STUDIES  IN  THE  PSYCHOLOGY  OF 
INTEMPERANCE 


STUDIES  IN  THE  PSYCHOLOGY 
OF  INTEMPERANCE 


BY 
G.  E.  CARTRIDGE,  Ph.D. 

Author  of  "An  Outline  of  Individual  Study,"  "The  Nervous 
Life,"  and  "  Genetic  Philosophy  of  Education  " 
Formerly  Lecturer  in  Clark  University 


flew 

STURGIS  &  WALTON 

COMPANY 

1912 


Copyright  1912 
By  STURGIS  &  WALTON  COMPANY 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.    Published  October,  1912 


PEEFACE 

THIS  book  is  an  attempt  to  present,  in  as  un- 
technical  a  manner  as  possible,  a  psychological 
view  of  the  nature  of  intoxication,  and  of  the 
craving  for  alcoholic,  and  to  a  certain  extent  of 
other,  stimulants  and  narcotics.  Anyone  who 
considers  the  problem  of  intemperance  must 
admit  that  before  we  can  intelligently  cope  with 
the  practical  questions  of  control,  we  must  first 
understand  better  the  human  nature  that  is  in- 
volved. Whether  or  not  the  reader  will  agree 
with  me  that,  since  the  causes  of  drinking  are 
largely  social,  the  cure  and  control  must  also 
be  social,  he  must  admit,  I  should  think,  that 
the  point  of  view  here  taken  in  collecting  evi- 
dence upon  the  alcohol  problem  is  sound,  and 
that  to  be  prepared  to  form  practical  conclu- 
sions about  temperance  and  intemperance  one 
must  understand  the  psychological  questions 
involved.  That  these  are  both  deep  and  inter- 
esting, I  hope  I  may  convince  the  reader. 

The  work  here  reported  is  a  continuation  of 
an  investigation  made  some  years  ago,  a  part 
of  which  was  reported  upon  in  the  American 
Journal  of  Psychology,  Vol.  XL  Owing  to  the 

252719 


PREFACE 

technical  nature  of  that  publication,  the  views 
there  expressed  seem  to  me  not  to  have  had  so 
wide  a  circulation  as  I  hope  they  deserve.  For 
this  reason  the  whole  matter  has  been  brought 
up  again  and  re-examined.  The  main  thesis 
has  been  expanded  and  more  popularly  pre- 
sented, and  practical  conclusions  have  been 
more  fully  worked  out.  Some  new  experi- 
mental matter  has  been  added,  and  a  review 
made  of  the  literature  that  has  accumulated 
since  the  first  study  was  published. 

It  would  be  a  matter  of  regret  to  me  if  my 
results  were  interpreted  by  anyone  as  antag- 
onistic to  the  temperance  movement.  In  this 
work,  if  anywhere,  there  is  need  of  harmonious 
co-operation  on  the  part  of  all.  In  regard  to 
the  desired  end  we  all  no  doubt  think  much 
alike.  Such  differences  as  there  are  are  differ- 
ences  about  ways  and  means.  Let  anyone  agree 
with  me  that  the  main  effort  must,  be  educa- 
tional and  constructive,  rather  than  legal  and 
negative,  and  there  will  be,  I  think,  little  left  to 
dispute.  If  I  do  not  place  much  emphasis  upon 
present  total  abstinence,  it  is  rather  because  I 
think  that  here  is  not  the  firing  line  of  the  con- 
flict with  alcohol,  than  that  I  wish  to  ignore  the 
dangers  of  drinking.  So  far  as  I  know  I  never 
met  a  man  whom  I  thought  the  worse  merely 
for  not  drinking.  I  have  met  some  men,  how- 
ever, whose  moral  usefulness  I  thought  much 


PEEFACE 

lessened  by  their  complete  lack  of  understand- 
ing of  the  inner  life  of  the  drinker.  We  need  a 
revelation  of  human  nature,  and  a  sympathetic 
interest  in  the  problems  and  needs  of  individual 
men;  and  we  need  a  clearer  perception  of  the 
possibility  of  good  that  accompanies  all  great 
evils.  This,  it  seems  to  me,  is  the  basis,  both 
of  rational  optimism,  and  of  sound  practical  en- 
deavour. 

Some  of  the  many  obligations  to  writers  and 
others  which  I  have  incurred,  I  have  tried  to 
make  plain  in  the  book  itself.  Very  many  have 
helped  me  whose  names  I  do  not  know;  some 
who  have  aided  me  most  I  cannot  mention  at  all. 
In  both  the  earlier  and  the  more  recent  studies 
my  wife  has  assisted  me  in  various  ways:  in 
gathering  materials,  and  in  the  troublesome  de- 
tails of  revision  and  proofs.  For  assistance  in 
the  experimental  studies  of  the  effects  of  small 
doses  of  alcohol,  I  am  especially  indebted  to 
Professor  C.  F.  Hodge  of  Clark  University. 

G.  E.  PABTRIDGE. 
WORCESTER,  June,  1912. 


CONTENTS 


PART  I 
THE  INTOXICATION  IMPULSE 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I    THE  PROBLEM 3 

II    INTOXICATION  AND  EXCITEMENT  IN  ANIMALS     .     11 

III  DBINKINQ  AMONG   PBIMITIVE  AND   SAVAGE  PEO- 

PLES     22 

IV  DRINKING  AMONG  CIVILIZED  NATIONS  ....     42 
V    THE  INTOXICATION  MOTIVES  IN  LITERATURE  AND 

LANGUAGE 71 

VI    MENTAL  AND  PHYSICAL  EFFECTS  OF  INTOXICANTS    82 

VII    THE  STATE  OF  INTOXICATION 100 

VIII    A  STUDY  OF  ABNORMAL  CASES 133 

IX    THEORIES  OF  THE  INTOXICATION  IMPULSE       .     .164 
X    SUMMARY  OF  FACTS  AND  INTERPRETATIONS     .     .199 

PART  II 

THE  PRACTICAL  PROBLEM 

XI    THE  PRACTICAL  PROBLEM 219 

XII    THE  SALOON  AND  THE  CLUB 222 

XIII  PREVENTIVE  AND  EDUCATIONAL  MEASURES       .     .  240 

XIV  THE  CARE,  CURE,  AND  CONTROL  OF  THE  DRUNKARD  253 
XV    SUMMARY  OF  PRACTICAL  PEINCIPLES    .     .     .     .261 

REFERENCES  .          >     .     .     .  267 


THE  INTOXICATION  IMPULSE 


STUDIES  IN  THE  PSYCHOLOGY 
OF  INTEMPERANCE 

CHAPTER  I 

THE   PROBLEM 

OUR  problem  is  the  origin,  nature,  course  of 
development  and  the  meaning  of  those  traits 
of   human   nature   and   the   social   life   which 
have   led   men   to   use,   to    enjoy,   to   become 
habituated  to,  and  sometimes  to  be  destroyed 
by,  intoxicating  drinks.    We  are  well  accus- 
tomed to  incessant  outcry  against  alcohol;  we 
hear  much  of  both  the  physical  and  moral  dis-  / 
asters  resulting  from  its  excessive  use;  we  have' 
statistics  dealing  with  the  consumption  of  alco- 
holic beverages;  there  are  many  excellent  in- 
vestigations   of   the   effects   of   alcoholic   and 
other  intoxicants  upon  both  mental  and  physi- 
cal functions;  the  effects  of  alcohol  in  causing 
weakness  and  disease  in  offspring  have  been 
carefully  studied: — but  as  yet  we  have  very 
little  insight  into  the  nature  of  the  impulse  to  1 
use  intoxicants,  which  is  so  deep-seated "  and  / 
wide-spread  among  the  nations  of  men ;  which 

3 


1   iEYiDHQLOOYOF  INTEMPERANCE 

is  so  intimately  connected  with  so  many  of  our 
questions  of  morals,  education,  government, 
iand  the  social  life;  which  is  the  cause,  or  at 
'least  the  accompanying  condition,  of  so  much 
misery,  poverty,  and  crime.  Our  effort  has 
been  rather  to  cure,  by  the  shortest  possible 
course,  the  most  obvious  evils  of  intemperance, 
than  patiently  to  study  the  whole  problem. 
This  is  natural  enough,  for  the  evils  have 
seemed  pressing,  and  some  palliatives  at  least 
ready  at  hand ;  while  the  study  of  problems  is 
laborious,  and  too  often  appears  impractical 
and  doubtful  of  issue. 

It  is  quite  natural,  too,  that  our  moral  atti- 
tudes toward  such  problems  as  intemperance 
should  sometimes  be  hastily  formed,  and  un- 
critical. We  all  have  our  standards  of  moral 
values,  based  in  part  upon  natural  feelings,  and 
in  part  acquired  from  contact  with  others,  and 
\  reflecting  the  ideals  of  the  society  in  which  we 
happen  to  be  born  and  live.  Such  natural 
judgments  and  practical  wisdom  do  very  well, 
on  the  whole,  for  ordinary  affairs.  Feeling, 
social  sanction,  ordinary  observation  and  in- 
terest must  be  the  basis  of  most  of  our  judg- 
ments and  actions — must  provide  the  great 
background  of  common  sense  and  common  mo- 
rality by  which  we  live.  And  yet,  in  many  ways, 
these  native  qualities  are  inadequate  to  cope 
with  great  issues.  Until  the  why  of  a  situation 


THE  PROBLEM  5 

is  understood  fully,  the  control  can  never  be 
entirely  rational  and  effective.  In  all  great 
practical  questions,  the  voice  of  science  is 
now  respectfully  heard.  It  must  be  so  in 
moral  issues.  We  shall  never  be  fully 
equipped  to  pass  moral  judgments  upon  the  use 
of  alcohol,  or  to  devise  means  for  controlling 
its  use,  until  we  understand  more  fully  why 
alcohol  has  played  such  a  part  as  it  has  in  the 
history  of  mankind.  Without  such  insight  we 
shall  always  be  empiricists,  like  the  physician 
who  treats  a  disease  by  controlling  the  symp- 
toms, without  trying  to  understand  the  nature 
of  the  disease. 

We  do  not  intend  to  carry  our  discussion  into 
the  theory  of  ethics,  but  simply  to  point  out 
one  truth,  and  apply  it  to  the  study  of  intem- 
perance. We  can  never  practically  grasp  any 
great  problem  of  morality,  social  economy,  and 
public  hygiene  until  we  understand  the  nature 
of  the  human  passions  which  cause  such  a  prob- 
lem to  exist.  Were  there  not  something  in 
human  nature  that  made  the  use  of  alcohol  a 
persistent  and  almost  irradicable  habit  in  so- 
ciety, we  should  have  no  problem  of  intemper- 
ance. We  must  therefore  try  to  understand 
what  theTmpulse  behind  tne  Jbabit  is,  what  the 
nature  of  the  effect  of  alcohol  is  upon  bodily 
and  mental  states,  that  makes  the  habit  possi- 
ble. 


6    PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

The  fundamental  question  of  all  is,  What  is 
the  intoxication  impulse,  or  the  craving  for 
alcohol?  Why  do  men  indulge  in  alcoholic 
drinks?  How  is  this  habit  related,  if  it  is  re- 
lated, to  other  traits  of  human  nature?  Has 
it  had  an  origin  in  normal  traits  of  body  or 
mind,  or  is  it  a  disease  or  abnormality?  And, 
if  we  find  it  to  be  a  disease,  we  must  still  ask 
what  its  origin  is,  what  its  relations  to  normal 
growth  are.  For  a  disease  is  never  merely  a 
disease,  to  be  considered  by  itself.  It  has  a 
cause.  We  need  to  know  also  the  causes  of  the 
great  variability  of  the  influence  of  alcohol 
upon  different  individuals — why  some  are  safe 
in  its  presence,  and  others  are  so  affected  that 
all  moral  instincts  are  swept  away  before  it, 
and  the  most  fundamental  passions  of  self- 
preservation  and  love  of  offspring  made  as 
nothing.  We  must  know  what  inner  forces  in 
individuals  produce  the  capacity  for  such  pow- 
erful habits,  and  what  social  factors  are  con- 
cerned in  their  development  and  perpetuation. 

No  one  need  expect  to  find  all  these  pressing 
questions  answered  as  yet  by  anyone.  All  we 
can  do  at  the  present  time  is  to  lay  out  certain 
evidence,  follow  to  their  conclusions  some  well- 
grounded  principles  of  human  development, 
construct  an  hypothesis  that  shall  explain  as 
many  of  the  facts  as  possible,  and  perhaps  find 
practical  devises  that  will  improve  our  present 


THE  PROBLEM  7 

control  of  the  situation.  We  do  not  look  for 
final  conclusions. 

We  wish  to  know  about  the  nature  and  origin 
of  the  intoxicating  impulses.  The  very  fact 
that  these  impulses  seem  so  persistent  and  deep- 
seated,  and  so  difficult  to  eradicate  from  soci- 
ety, shows  that  we  must  delve  deeply  into  the 
history  of  the  human  mind,  if  we  are  to  get  at 
the  root  of  the  problem.  The  fact  that  those 
who  most  freely  admit  the  damaging  effect  of 
alcohol  upon  their  own  bodies  and  minds  are 
the  least  able  to  escape  its  tyranny  shows,  in 
itself,  that  we  are  not  dealing  with  any  lightly 
acquired  trait  of  human  nature,  against  which 
it  is  sufficient  to  turn  a  tide  of  fashion. 

There  are  many  lines  of  inquiry  open  to  a 
scientific  interest  in  intemperance.  We  can 
gather  facts  about  the  use  of  intoxicants  among 
primitive  peoples,  and  in  civilized  nations. 
Something  may  be  learned  from  the  attitude 
of  animals  toward  intoxicants,  and  the  effects 
of  alcohol  upon  them.  By  studying  simpler 
forms  of  life  than  our  present  complex  society 
and  individuals,  we  may  be  able  to  detect  be- 
ginnings, to  relate  the  abnormal  to  the  normal, 
to  find  conditions  out  of  which  habits  of  in- 
temperance have  sprung. 

In  order  to  understand  a  desire  or  craving, 
it  is  also  necessary  to  know  precisely  what  it  is 
that  is  craved.  We  can  experiment  upon  ani- 


8    PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

mals,  and  even  upon  the  human  being,  to  de- 
termine what  intoxication,  or  any  effect  of 
alcohol,  is.  We  can  measure,  test  various 
effects,  gather  reports  of  the  feelings  and 
thoughts  of  those  we  test.  We  can  accumulate 
evidence  from  those  who  have  succumbed  to 
habit,  and  learn  the  history  of  their  experi- 
ences. We  can  collect  statistics  about  age, 
social  conditions,  cures,  and  the  like.  Some- 
thing will  be  learned  from  the  medical  reports 
of  typical  and  extreme  cases  of  alcoholism. 
Finally,  the  intoxication  motives  may  be 
studied  in  their  expression  in  literature,  lan- 
guage, and  art.  Drinking  songs,  the  writings 
of  men  known  to  have  used  intoxicants  to  ex- 
cess, the  vocabulary  of  intoxication — all  these 
can  in  one  way  or  another  be  regarded  as  ob- 
jective evidence  of  the  traits  we  are  trying  to 
study.  In  fact  there  are  many  promising  ways 
of  approach  to  the  problem  of  the  nature  of 
the  intoxication  motives — some  already  well 
opened,  some  as  yet  quite  untried. 

The  attitude  which  we  wish  to  take  in  this 
study  of  intemperance,  and  intoxication  gener- 
ally, is,  therefore,  that  of  observation  and  in- 
terpretation of  facts — in  other  words,  the  sci- 
entific attitude.  We  do  not  wish  to  begin  with 
pre-fonned  moral  judgments,  for  the  cate- 
gories of  science  are  not  those  of  right  and 
wrong.  Yet  so  strong  is  the  tendency  to 


THE  PROBLEM  9 

evaluate  that  even  sciences  that  ought  to 
remain  purely  descriptive  are  prone  to  di- 
vide everything  into  two  classes,  the  nor- 
mal and  the  abnormal,  the  good  and  the  bad- 
making  sciences  of  normal  life,  and  sciences  of 
abnormal  life.  This  tendency  to  classification 
has  done  harm  in  preventing  a  study  of  the  ab- 
normal in  its  normal  relations.  This  is  in  an- 
other form  precisely  the  limitation  we  com- 
plain of  in  the  uncritical  in  dealing  with  such 
problems  as  intemperance.  This  attitude  al- 
ways sets  up  the  two  rigid  classes,  the  normal 
and  the  abnormal,  the  good  and  the  bad;  the 
former  to  be  fostered  and  encouraged,  and  the 
latter  to  be  suppressed.  It  is  just  this  practi- 
cal and  easy  manner  of  dealing  with  human 
nature,  whether  instigated  by  feelings,  or  by  too 
narrow  a  science,  that  prevents  a  broad  and 
deep  understanding  of  facts  in  all  their  rela- 
tions. So  long  as  the  drinking  of  alcohol,  for 
example,  is  regarded  by  great  numbers  of  our 
population  as  merely  harmful  or  sinful;  a 
product  merely  of  the  evil  in  man's  nature;  as 
a  result  merely  of  social  disease  and  disorder, 
we  shall  never  be  able  to  cope  with  the  great 
evil  of  intemperance.  It  is  irrational  to  legis- 
late as  though  for  all  time,  without  knowledge 
of  the  nature  or  the  force  of  the  instincts 
against  which  the  legislation  is  directed.  And 
how  shall  we  know  what  to  say  to  the  child,  or 


10    PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

what  interests  and  faculties  to  train,  in  order 
to  prevent  his  growing  up  to  be  a  drunkard, 
unless  we  know  precisely  out  of  what  physical 
and  psychical  elements  the  qualities  of  the 
drunkard  are  made?  Without  the  fullest  possi- 
ble understanding  of  the  forces  with  which  we 
deal,  it  is  quite  likely  that  we  shall  be  looking 
far  away  for  that  which  lies  near  at  hand;  that 
we  shall  lose  time  and  energy  trying  to  do  the 
impossible,  or  quite  as  bad,  the  unnecessary; 
that  we  shall  cause  evils  we  wish  to  cure,  or  put 
others  as  bad  or  worse  in  their  place. 


CHAPTEE  II 

INTOXICATION  AND  EXCITEMENT  IN  ANIMALS 

SOMETHING  may  be  learned  about  any  humani 
trait,  whether  of  body  or  mind,  by  studying  its' 
beginning  or  antecedents  in  animals.  There  is 
no  longer  need  of  justifying  this  approach  to 
human  psychology.  Genetic  methods  prevail 
everywhere,  and  comparative  psychology  has 
become  a  well-established  science.  So  we  may 
safely  start  with  the  assumption  that  whenever 
we  find  a  deep-seated  trait  in  the  human  mind, 
we  shall  profit  by  trying  to  trace  its  origins  in 
animal  life.  Sometimes  the  trait,  in  its  human 
form,  can  be  traced  but  a  little  way — for  ex- 
ample, the  conscience — but  we  can  always  find 
primitive  traits  related  to  the  higher,  and  in 
some  way  involved  in  producing  them.  Even 
religion  has  in  recent  years  been  studied  genet- 
ically, and  its  roots  found  in  primitive  love  and 
fear:  states  of  mind  and  habits  which  in  turn 
have  come  by  an  unbroken  chain  of  steps  from 
the  most  ^elementary  expressions  of  psychic 
life. 

We  might  well  begin  the  study  of  intoxication 
in  an  investigation  of  animal  life  with  three 

11 


12     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

questions  in  mind.  We  should  like  to  know, 
first,  whether  animals  are  affected  by  stimu- 
lants and  intoxicants  in  the  same  way  that 
men  are;  and  if  so  how  low  down  in  the  scale 
of  animal  life  the  physical  and  mental  capacity 
for  intoxication  may  be  found.  It  would  be  im- 
portant, next,  to  know  whether  animals  acquire 
the  habit  of  intoxication:  whether  they  enjoy 
intoxication  as  men  do,  and  can  be  said  to  have 
a  craving  for  it,  or  for  alcoholic  or  other  in- 
toxicating drinks  as  such.  We  should  like  to 
know  also  whether  among  animals  other  states 
may  be  found,  or  other  impulses,  cravings  or 
habits  which  can  throw  light  upon  the  nature 
of  the  intoxication  motive ;  whether,  if  animals 
have  intoxication  habits  of  any  kind,  reason 
for  the  enjoyment  of  such  states  can  be  found 
in  their  relations  to  activities  that  are  useful 
to  the  animal,  and  the  presence  of  which  we  can 
understand. 

Animal  psychology  has  as  yet  less  to  offer 
than  we  might  wish  in  the  way  of  facts  bear- 
ing directly  upon  the  intoxication  impulse,  and 
these  facts  are  often  difficult  to  interpret, 

i  especially  facts  about  the  formation  of  habit; 
for,  of  course,  we  cannot  secure  introspective 
reports  of  the  states  of  feeling  of  an  animal. 

Apparently  many  animals  are  affected  phys- 
ically by  alcohol  in  ways  essentially  like  in- 
toxication as  we  find  it  in  the  human  species. 


INTOXICATION  IN  ANIMALS        13 

Romanes  (*)  made  experiments  upon  jellyfish, 
starfish,  and  sea-urchins.  The  first  effect  upon 
sarsia,  for  example,  was  to  cause  a  great  in- 
crease in  the  frequency  of  the  swimming  move- 
ments: so  much  that  the  bell  had  no  time  to 
expand  properly  between  the  successive  con- 
tractions. Gradually  the  movements  grew  less 
and  less  frequent  and  forcible,  until,  finally,  the 
animal  was  no  longer  responsive  to  stimuli  ap- 
plied to  its  tentacles.  Here  are,  then,  the  ex- 
ternal signs  of  a  series  of  steps,  very  like  the 
stages  of  intoxication  in  a  man.  Whether  the 
animal  feels  in  any  way  as  a  man  does :  whether 
there  is  a  stage  of  heightened  feeling  and  ex- 
citement, followed  by  depression  and  a  com- 
atose condition,  perhaps  no  one  would  feel 
competent  to  say.  It  is  not  at  all  unlikely. 
Whether  or  not  the  animal  is  capable  of  re- 
membering the  experience,  and  desiring  its  repe- 
tition is  more  difficult  still  to  decide  precisely, 
and  yet  it  is  less  likely. 

There  is  much  evidence  to  show  that  the  effect 
of  large  doses  of  alcohol  upon  many  species  of 
animals  is  essentially  the  same.  A  period  of 
increased  activity  is  followed  by  lessened  activ- 
ity.* Insects  are  capable  of  becoming  intoxi- 

*  But  even  upon  this  point  there  is  not  wanting  contradic- 
tory, evidence.  Kesteven  (2)  made  tests  upon  amoebae  by  plac- 
ing the  animals  in  alcoholic  solutions  ranging  in  strength 
from  1  per  cent,  to  7  per  cent.  He  was  not  able  to  detect  a 
stage  of  stimulation  in  any  case,  and  found  that  locomotion 


14     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEKANCE 

cated.  Wasps  have  been  observed  apparently 
intoxicated  by  the  juices  of  over-ripe  fruit. 
They  become  excited,  and  finally  crawl  away  in 
a  semi-somnolent  condition,  and  lie  in  the  grass 
until  they  recover,  and  then  return  to  the  fruit. 
Dogs  show  quite  unmistakably  the  typical  stages 
of  intoxication.  Under  the  influence  of  large 
doses  of  alcohol  they  become  exalted  in  feeling 
or,  at  least,  motor  activity  and  expressions  of 
social  feeling  increase ;  and  following  this  stage 
there  is  one  of  depression  and  fear,  and  the 
•  animal  skulks  away  and  hides. 

Do  animals  have,  or  can  they  acquire,  a  crav- 
ing for  intoxication  or  intoxicants  as  man  does? 
This  is  difficult  to  decide.  Facts  are  not  want- 
ing, but  the  interpretation  of  them  is  difficult. 
Stories  are  often  told  by  reliable  writers  about 
elephants,  apes,  and  dogs  that  have  acquired  a 
taste  for  alcoholic  liquors.  The  fox  terrier,  a 
favourite  among  sailors,  is  often  credited  with 
a  craving  for  alcohol.  Hens  and  chickens  will 
eagerly  devour  bread  soaked  in  brandy  or 
whisky.  Stories  are  told  about  dogs  that  pre- 
fer beer  to  meat,  and  when  offered  both  together 
will  drink  the  beer  and  refuse  the  meat.  All 
such  cases  leave  much  to  be  desired  in  the  way 
of  psychological  interpretation.  We  do  not 

ceased  as  soon  as  the  solution  reached  the  animal.  Though 
the  animals  were  able  to  live  in  a  solution  of  5  per  cent., 
there  was  always  some  degree  of  paralysis. 


INTOXICATION  IN  ANIMALS        15 

know  whether  the  animal  merely  becomes  fondl 
of  the  taste  of  the  drink,  or  whether  the  mentali 
state  is  remembered,  and  sought  once  more. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  animals  can  be  trained 
to  drink  alcoholic  beverages,  and  to  like  them; 
but  whether  a  dog,  for  example,  would  be  cap- 
able of  forming  so  complex  an  association  as 
to  seek  a  drink  that  is  disagreeable  to  the  taste, 
for  the  sake  of  a  remote  psychic  effect,  seems 
doubtful.  This  is  what  happens  often  in  the 
case  of  man.  The  mental  effect  of  the  drink, 
and  not  the  drink  itself,  is  what  pleases,  and 
as  we  shall  see  later,  forms  the  basis  of  the 
habit. 

On  the  other  side  there  are  numerous  facts 
showing  that  animals  often  dislike  either  the 
taste  or  the  effect  of  intoxicants.  Darwin  (3) 
relates  an  instance  of  baboons  being  made  drunk 
with  beer.  The  next  morning  the  keeper  found 
them  holding  their  heads  tightly,  and  when 
offered  beer  they  refused  to  taste  it  again. 
It  is  too  much  to  assert  that  they  rightly  at- 
tributed their  feelings  to  their  drink  the  day 
before,  for  all  the  mental  action  needed  is  a 
feeling  of  nausea  at  the  smell  of  alcohol.  It  is 
quite  likely  they  would  have  refused  food  also. 
Dr.  Hodge 's  dogs,  which  were  experimented 
upon  with  alcohol  for  at  least  two  years,  never 
snowed  a  taste  for  it,  although  they  had  it  daily 
in  large  doses.  One  of  these  dogs,  after  two 


16     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

years'  experience  with  alcohol  skulked  into  a 
corner  and  refused  to  come  out  again  when  she 
scented  a  bottle  of  alcohol.  In  her  case  the 
dose  had  never  been  sufficient  to  produce  in- 
toxication. 

So  far  as  these  facts  are  concerned  we  have 
Evidence  neither  for  or  against  the  view  that 
Animals  are  capable  of  enjoying  and  seeking 
intoxication  as  a  man  does.  It  certainly  is  not 
impossible  that  they  do.  They  surely  have  the 
expressive  signs  of  enjoyment  of  the  state  while 
it  lasts,  and  if  they  can  form  the  association  be- 
tween the  drink  and  its  effect,  and  retain  a 
sufficient  memory  of  the  state  itself  as  different 
from  their  ordinary  experiences,  they  have  the 
mental  equipment  and  degree  of  intelligence  to 
become  drunkards  in  the  real  sense.  Whether 
the  mental  state  of  intoxication  affords  for 
them  a  sufficiently  rich  experience  to  be  so  re- 
tained and  sought,  may  well,  however,  be  matter 
of  doubt;  but  the  difference  between  man  and 
animals,  in  these  respects,  must  be  one  merely 
of  degree  and  complexity  of  experience,  and 
not  of  nature.  We  cannot  suppose  the  animal 
capable  of  the  higher  motives  for  intoxication, 
such  as  a  desire  to  drown  sorrow,  or  to  increase 
the  pleasure  of  his  social  relations ;  but  he  may 
not  be  incapable  of  obtaining  even  these  effects 
in  some  degree  from  the  state  when  it  is  once 
attained. 


INTOXICATION  IN  ANIMALS        17 

We  cannot  leave  the  subject  of  animal  intoxi- 
cation without  taking  notice  of  certain  states 
observed  among  many  species  of  animals,  which  \ 
are  very  similar  to  alcoholic  intoxication,  usu-  | 
ally,  but  not  always,  connected  with  the  sexual 
life.  These  states  of  exaltation  appear  to  be 
more  Common  among  birds,  but  are  not  wanting 
in  mammals.  One  or  two  examples  will  serve  to 
illustrate  a  phenomenon  which  occurs  in  all  de- 
grees of  intensity,  from  slight  increase  in  activ- 
ity to  the  wildest  excitement. 

Besides  the  various  plays  of  animals,  in 
which  there  appears  to  be  a  love  of  excitement 
for  its  own  sake,  there  are  in  some  species 
marked  rhythmically  occurring  periods  of  in- 
tense excitement.  Chapman  (4)  describes  a  sky 
dance  of  the  woodcock  as  a  succession  of  wild 
rushes  in  the  air,  with  always  increasing  speed 
and  with  louder  and  louder  cries,  the  object  of 
which  seems  to  be  to  rise  to  the  highest  pitch  of 
excitement. 

Worth  (5)  describes  a  dance  of  prairie  chick- 
ens or  sharp-tailed  grouse  as  follows: 

"The  birds,  in  companies  of  from  six  to  twenty  individuals, 
assemble  on  some  hillock  or  knoll  fifty  to  a  hundred  feet 
across,  the  floor  being  worn  or  beaten  smooth  by  years  of 
tramping.  After  remaining  for  a  time  inactive,  one  of  the 
cocks  lowers  his  head,  spreads  out  his  wings  nearly  horizon- 
tally, and  his  tail  perpendicularly,  distends  his  air  sacs  and 
erects  his  feathers,  then  rushes  across  the  floor,  taking  the 
shortest  of  steps  but  stamping  his  feet  so  hard  and  so  rapidly 


18     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

that  the  sound  is  like  that  of  a  kettledrum;  and  at  the  same 
time  he  utters  a  kind  of  bubbling  crow  which  seems  to  rise 
from  his  air  sacs,  beats  the  air  with  his  wings  and  vibrates 
the  air  with  his  tail,  so  that  he  produces  a  loud  rustling  noise 
and  thus  becomes  a  really  astonishing  spectacle.  Soon  after 
he  commences,  all  the  cocks  join  in,  rattling,  stamping,  drum- 
ming, crowing,  and  dancing  furiously;  louder  and  louder  the 
noise,  faster  and  faster  the  dance  becomes,  until  at  last  they 
madly  whirl  about,  leaping  over  each  other  in  their  excite- 
ment" 

Hudson  (6)  speaks  of  the  screaming  contests 
of  Platan  rails,  and  remarks  upon  the  striking 
resemblance  to  the  human  voice  exerted  to  its 
utmost  pitch  and  expressive  of  extreme  terror 
and  despair.  Wallace  says: 

"We  see  that  the  inferior  animals,  when  the 
.conditions  of  life  are  favourable,  are  subject  to 
'periodic  fits  of  gladness  affecting  them  power- 
fully and  standing  out  in  vivid  contrast  to  their 
ordinary  temper.  Birds  are  more  subject  to 
this  universal  joyous  instinct  than  mammals, 
and  there  are  times  when  some  species  are 
overflowing  with  it." 

Groos  (7)  also  speaks  of  these  strange 
characteristics  of  the  love  dances  and  the  play 
of  animals,  and  explains  the  intense  excitement 
of  some  of  them  on  the  ground  that  it  is  neces- 
sary that  the  sexual  impulse  acquire  tremen- 
dous power  and  its  fulfilment  be  rendered 
difficult — hence  the  great  and  long-continued 
excitement  preceding  the  act  of  pairing. 

Such  facts  suggest  at  the  very  outset  many 


INTOXICATION  IN  ANIMALS        19 

problems ;  and  although  they  cannot  be  probed 
deeply  at  this  point,  one  or  two  principles  of 
development  may  be  mentioned,  which  will  later 
assist  in  understanding  them. 

We  can  assert,  first,  that  whenever  a  habit  or 
capacity  for  a  particular  form  of  behaviour  is 
found  to  be  deep-seated  and  widespread, 
whether  in  animal  or  in  man,  it  has  a  practical 
meaning.  This  we  find  to  be  true  of  all  play 
and  other  seemingly  purposeless  activities. 
And  we  should  expect  to  discover,  on  this  princi- 
ple, that  all  states  of  extreme  pleasure  and 
excitement — such  as  intoxication — and  the 
capacity  to  attain  them,  would  not  prove  to  be 
exceptions.  We  cannot  readily  believe  that 
they  are  mere  chance  phenomena,  without  mean- 
ing, but  should  expect  to  discover  in  them  a 
deep  origin  and  close  connection  with  the  prac- 
tical life  of  the  species. 

Now,  whenever  we  try  to  trace  back  the 
higher  emotions  of  man  to  their  beginnings,  we 
usually  find  them  connected  with  one  or  both 
of  two  fundamental  modes  of  behaviour,  having 
for  ends  the  preservation  of  the  life  of  the  in- 
dividual, and  the  continuance  of  the  race  by 
reproduction.  To  carry  on  these  activities 
many  structures,  functions  and  impulses  have 
been  established,  and  these  fundamental  struc- 
tures and  modes  of  action  underlie  all  later  de- 
velopments. From  them  are  created  forms 


I 


20     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

and  functions  sometimes  seemingly  very  remote 
in  their  purpose  and  mechanism  from  the  primi- 
tive mechanisms  from  which  they  are  produced. 
Often  old  structures  and  habits  remain  latent 
in  the  organism,  and  are  only  in  unusual  circum- 
stances utilised  by  being  taken  up  into  higher 
functions. 

We  are  justified  in  assuming,  with  a  high 
degree  of  probability,  that  in  all  exceptional 
traits  of  consciousness,  such  as  intense  excite- 
ment and  intoxication,  and  the  craving  for  these 
states,  old  pleasure  and  pain  mechanisms,  once 
connected  with  the  practical  life,  are  at  work; 
and  that  these  states  are  somehow  connected 
with  the  mode  of  development  of  the  individual 
or  the  progress  of  the  race  as  a  whole. 

Such  a  conclusion  is  not  based  upon  precise 
evidence  in  regard  to  any  one  function,  and  is 
not  to  be  taken  as  demonstrated  truth;  but  the 
testimony  in  its  favor  is  so  corroborative,  part 
to  part,  and  this  view  now  clarifies  so  many  prob- 
lems of  the  emotional  life  of  man,  that  it  must 
be  accepted  as  at  least  a  co-ordinating  point 
of  view  from  which  such  problems  as  intoxi- 
cation may  be  investigated.  We  do  not  know 
precisely  to  what  extent  either  the  reproductive 
or  other  functions  are  involved  in  the  history 
of  the  intoxication  pleasures  and  impulses;  but 
we  shall  see  that  it  is  difficult  to  avoid  the  con- 
clusion that  they  are  concerned  in  them,  and  it 


INTOXICATION  IN  ANIMALS        21 

is  because  of  the  connection  of  these  states  with 
practical  functions,  that  they  have  been  pre- 
served by  selection,  and  that  impulses  to  seek 
such  states  of  intensity  have  been  established, 
still  further  securing  them.  All  this,  however, 
is  at  this  point  merely  suggested  as  an  illumi- 
nating hypothesis,  on  the  basis  of  which  the 
problems  of  intemperance  in  man  may  be 
studied. 


f: 


CHAPTEE  III 

DRINKING  AMONG   PRIMITIVE   AND   SAVAGE   PEOPLES 


WE  can  now  see  the  full  scope  of  the  genetic 
method  of  approach  to  our  problem.  Carried 
out  completely,  it  would  be  nothing  less  than  a 
study  of  the  genesis  of  all  the  intoxication  mo- 
tives throughout  the  whole  racial  history  from 
the  earliest  animal  life  to  the  present  time.  It 
would  include  the  examination  of  both  physical 
and  mental  data,  and  their  relations  to  one 
another.  It  would  go  still  further.  It  would 
study,  in  the  individual,  the  function  of  the 
intoxication  states  and  impulses,  tracing  these 
from  infancy  upwards — and  finally  it  would 
try  to  correlate  the  two  series  of  facts,  the 
racial  and  the  individual. 

In  the  study  of  the  habits  of  primitive  and 
savage  peoples  we  should  expect  to  find  much 
valuable  material  for  studying  the  nature  of  the 
intoxication  motive.  Now  we  shall  begin  to 
find  data  which  are  more  psychological  in 
nature.  The  evidence  is  still  not  introspective, 
but  even  the  most  primitive  man  has  expressed 
himself  in  symbols  which  we  can  interpret  psy- 
chologically with  great  confidence.  We  cannot, 

22 


PRIMITIVE  PEOPLE'S  DRINKING     23 

it  is  true,  reason  directly  from  the  savage  to 
civilised  man;  but  the  explanatory  power  of 
facts  about  mere  simple  civilisations,  in  in- 
terpreting the  later  and  more  complex,  is  now 
so  widely  recognised  that  we  can  pass  without 
further  argument  to  a  review  of  the  facts. 

To  present  adequately  the  known  facts  about 
the  drinking  habits  of  lower  races,  and  the  whole 
history  of  the  use  of  stimulants  and  narcotics 
of  all  kinds,  would  require  many  volumes.  The 
purpose  here  is  not  to  give  such  a  detailed 
history  of  drink,  nor  even  to  name  and  classify 
the  great  number  of  intoxicants  in  use  in  the 
world;  but,  if  possible,  to  extract  from  suf- 
ficient samples  of  the  data  psychological  princi- 
ples, which  will  aid  in  interpreting  the  intoxi- 
cation motive  as  it  appears  in  present  social 
life. 

The  custom  of  using  intoxicating  drinks  is 
certainly  polygenetic;  that  is,  it  has  not  spread 
as  a  habit  from  one  part  of  the  world  to  another, 
but  is  indigenous  in  many  places,  and  has  prob-1 
ably  arisen  afresh  at  many  times.  No  one  can 
examine  the  data  without  being  convinced  that, 
whether  for  good  or  evil,  intoxication  has  played 
a  very  important  part  among  uncivilised  peo- 
ples. Alcohol  has  not  been  simply  a  beverage, 
causing  (accidentally)  intoxication ;  it  has  been 
a  great  factor  in  the  mental  life  of  peoples,  in- 
timately connected  with  religious,  social,  intel- 


24     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

lectual  and  practical  activities.  It  is  difficult 
for  us,  who  have  so  many  interests  and  means  of 
mental  excitement,  to  understand,  precisely,  how 
the  savage  has  looked  upon  intoxication,  and  the 
uses  to  which  he  has  put  it.  After  a  study  of 
the  facts  it  will  be  quite  as  difficult  to  understand 
what  the  religious  and  social  consciousness  of 
the  savage  might  have  been  without  the  intoxi- 
cation cults.  Intoxicants  have  been  literally 
the  creators  of  gods,  and  about  their  use  have 
crystallised  myth  and  superstition,  rite  and 
ceremony,  in  endless  variety.  State  ceremoni- 
als, worship,  marriage,  funerals,  secular  festi- 
vals, initiatory  rites,  dances,  hospitality  (both 
public  and  private),  care  of  the  sick,  prepa- 
ration for  war,  consummation  of  peace,  trans- 
action of  business — all  have  served  as  occasions 
for  intoxication,  and  have  been  influenced  by  the 
use  of  intoxicants. 

The  relation  of  intoxication  to  religion  is  an 
interesting  and  fruitful  psychological  theme. 
Excitement,  whether  induced  by  intoxicants  or 
otherwise,  has  often  been  regarded  as  the  essen- 
tial part  of  religious  feeling.  It  has  been  in- 
duced in  various  ways  as  a  means  of  divine 
worship:  by  violent  movement,  fasting,  self- 
torture,  and  by  drugs.  Epilepsy,  chorea,  and 
other  neurotic  conditions  have  been,  and  still 
are,  regarded  as  divine,  and  have  been  volun- 
tarily sought.  Long  courses  of  training  in 


PRIMITIVE  PEOPLE'S  DRINKING     25 

practices  that  make  the  nerves  crepitate  have 
been  indulged  in  in  order  to  bring  the  soul  into 
touch  with  supernatural  powers.  So  it  is  but 
a  single  instance  of  a  general  attitude  toward 
"things  divine,  when  intoxication  is  regarded  as 
god-given  or  pleasing  to  the  gods.  To  uncivil- 
ised man  this  belief  is  entirely  logical ;  not  only 
did  the  ecstatic  feeling  and  sense  of  increased 
power  induced  by  the  intoxicant  suggest  this 
view,  but  in  the  dreams  which  drugs  produced 
the  savage  seemed  to  enter  his  heaven  and  to 
talk  with  his  gods.  Thus  we  need  not  be  sur- 
prised at  finding  that  the  belief  in  the  religious 
nature  of  intoxication  was  widespread,  almost 
as  nearly  universal  as  the  use  of  intoxicants, 
that  the  cult  of  intoxication  has  occurred  in 
many  forms,  and  that  remnants  of  it  can  still  be 
found,  like  rudimentary  organs,  in  our  own  re- 
ligion. It  is  a  long  way  from  the  ancient  soma 
worship,  in  which  all  the  devotees  of  Indra  be- 
came intoxicated  to  please  the  god,  to  our  own 
solemn  sacrament  of  the  communion,  yet  none 
of  the  transitional  steps  are  lacking;  and  psy- 
chologically at  least  this  sacrament  must  be  sup- 
posed to  have  a  deep  ancestral  root  in  primitive 
intoxication  rites. 

Indications  of  the  use  of  intoxicants  by  prim- 
itive man  for  some  purpose,  probably  religious, 
are  not  wanting.  Dawkins,  (8)  speaking  of  the 
neolithic  stage  of  civilisation  in  Europe,  says 


26     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

that  the  poppy  was  cultivated,  and  that  small 
round  cakes  have  been  found,  indicating  a  prob- 
able use  as  an  intoxicant.  The  earliest  his- 
torical example  of  a  religious  cult  certainly 
founded  upon  intoxication  is  the  soma  worship 
of  the  Hindus.  In  this  belief,  the  god  Indra 
was  supposed  to  be  present  in  the  wine;  just 
as,  at  a  later  time,  the  Greeks  believed  in  regard 
to  Dionysus.  Both  the  Zend  Avesta  and  the 
Vedas  speak  of  a  sacred  plant,  the  fermented 
juice  of  which  was  employed  in  sacred  rites. 
The  Hindus  believed  that  performance  of  the 
soma  rite  was  highly  beneficial  to  both  body 
and  soul ;  indeed  they  believed  that  Indra  him- 
self drank  soma  to  obtain  strength  and  vic- 
tory in  battle.  Length  of  days  was  also  at- 
tributed by  them  to  its  use. 

Religious  cults  of  intoxication  are  scattered 
all  over  the  world  among  uncivilised  peoples, 
and  there  can  be  little  doubt  of  their  independ- 
ent origin  at  many  times  and  in  many  places. 
A  few,  of  many,  will  be  mentioned. 

A  few  years  ago  a  remarkable  religious  in- 
toxication ceremony  was  described,  then  newly 
discovered  among  American  tribes  of  Indians. 
It  spread  from  the  Kiawi  Indians  and  associ- 
ated tribes,  which  formerly  ranged  from  the 
Arkansas  River  southward  into  Mexico,  until  it 
became  the  chief  religious  practice  of  all  the 
tribes  on  the  southern  plains.  The  ceremony, 


PRIMITIVE  PEOPLE'S  DRINKING     27 

as  described  by  Prentiss  and  Morgan,  (°) 
usually  takes  place  on  Saturday  night  and  lasts 
until  noon  of  the  next  day.  The  men  sit  about 
the  brightly  burning  camp  fire,  chewing  the  in- 
toxicating mescal,  while  a  continuous  singing 
and  beating  of  drums  is  kept  up,  interrupted  by 
occasional  prayers  for  the  sick  and  by  baptismal 
rites.  The  mescal  button,  in  this  rite,  symbo- 
lises the  sun  as  the  giver  of  life,  and  the  purpose 
of  the  ceremony  is  to  enable  the  devotees  to 
understand  the  mysteries  of  ilie  universe. 

The  Pueblos,  another  race  of  American  In- 
dians, are  described  as  a  sober  people,  who 
never  become  intoxicated  except  in  their  re- 
ligious ceremonies.  Featherman  (10)  describes 
a  sacred  festival  of  the  Yakuts  which  is  nothing 
more  than  an  elaborate  drinking  ceremony. 
Spencer  (n)  says  that  the  Dahomans  deem  it  a 
duty  to  the  gods  to  be  drunk.  The  Ainos  of 
Japan  drink  to  the  gods,  as  is  also  the  custom 
of  the  Polynesians.  In  Fiji,  drinking  is  ac- 
companied by  prayers  or  chants  to  the  gods. 
The  Patagonians  pray  to  be  eternally  drunk  in 
heaven.  Among  the  American  Indians  intoxi- 
cation by  tobacco  was  put  to  religious  uses. 

Shamanism,  which  can  be  said  to  be  the  first 
organised  religion,  and  which  spread  all  over  the 
world,  is  founded  upon  intoxication.  Shaman- 
ism is  essentially  the  belief  that  all  events  are 
caused  by  mind — by  good  and  evil  spirits.  The 


28     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

shaman  is  a  priest,  whose  function  is  to  control 
these  spirits  by  putting  himself  into  touch  with 
them.  He  does  this  by  excitement ;  by  inducing 
a  mental  state  in  which  he  sees  visions,  proph- 
ecies, and  professes  to  drive  out  evil  in- 
fluences and  diseases.  The  shaman  uses  va- 
rious means  of  attaining  his  divine  frenzy. 
Epileptic  or  hysterical  excitement  is  produced 
by  wild  and  rapid  movements,  by  contortions, 
by  beating  of  drums,  by  fasting,  and  by  drugs. 
In  some  cases  a  long  training  is  undergone  to 
produce  a  nervous  condition.  Young  candi- 
dates are  chosen  from  among  the  constitution- 
ally nervous,  sensitive,  and  excitable.  The  use 
of  intoxicants  to  aid  in  producing  the  divine 
state  is  very  widespread,  and  the  method  is 
practised  both  by  male  and  by  female  shamans. 
Sometimes  the  intoxication  is  participated  in  by 
onlookers  as  well  as  by  the  priest.  An  interest- 
ing instance  has  been  described  by  observers  in 
the  Philippines.  (12)  In  some  of  the  native 
tribes  the  shaman  is  usually  a  woman,  who 
works  herself  up  to  a  state  of  frenzied  nervous 
excitement  by  contortions  and  by  drinking  great 
quantities  of  fermented  liquor.  Accompanying 
her  medicine  ceremonies  there  is  feasting  and 
revelling,  until  all  present  become  intoxicated 
and  fall  into  an  unconscious  state. 

Many  other  instances  could  be  cited.    The  In- 
dians of  California,  Mexico,  Peru  and  Brazil  all 


PKIMITIVE  PEOPLE'S  DRINKING     29 

had  drug  ceremonies  which  vary  in  the  drug 
used,  and  in  minor  matters  of  form,  but  all  of 
which  are  essentially  alike  in  their  purpose. 
Dyer  (13)  says  that  the  DarJen  Indians  of  South 
America  give  seeds  of  the  intoxicating  datura 
to  children  to  produce  a  prophetic  delirium  in 
which  they  reveal  hidden  treasures.  Informa- 
tion about  their  enemies  was  obtained  in  a 
similar  way  among  other  tribes. 

Intoxication  and  excitement  as  religious 
ecstasy  do  not  by  any  means  end  with  the 
shamanistic  stage  of  religious  development. 
One  cannot  fail  to  see  that  their  descendants 
have  survived  during  all  stages  of  culture,  even 
our  own.  Various  forms  of  nervous  disorder, 
such  as  hysteria,  epilepsy,  chorea,  convulsions, 
and  ecstasies  have  been  induced  voluntarily  for 
religious  purposes — and  hardly  a  year  passes 
in  our  own  century  in  which  we  do  not  hear  of  a 
new  practice  founded  upon  some  form  of  ex- 
citement. 

The  use  of  intoxicants  for  religious  purposes  \ 
established,  as  it  were,  their  standing  among  ji 
primitive  customs.     The  state  of  intoxication, 
instead  of  being  regarded  as  immoral  or  in  bad 
taste,  as  among  us,  was  highly  commendable 
and  correct  on  many  occasions.    We  can  truly 
say  that  there  is  no  important  event  in  life  that 
has  not  been  habitually  celebrated  by  intoxi- 
cation.   Every  occasion  that  excites  the  emo- 


30     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

tions,  whether  of  joy  or  sorrow,  seems  to  have 
demanded  somewhere  artificial  means  of  in- 
tensifying the  feeling. 

Among  some  New  Mexican  Indian  tribes  a 
peculiar  birth  ceremony  has  been  witnessed, 

f  celebrated  only  at  the  birth  of  a  first  child.    In 

/  this,  the  father  becomes  intoxicated,  and  while 
in  this  state,  is  surrounded  by  a  dancing  multi- 
tude who  score  his  body  until  the  blood  flows. 

The  use  of  intoxicants  in  pubertal  rites  is 
very  common,  and  was  often  practised  by 
American  Indians.  The  Tuscaroras  (14)  of 
North  Carolina,  in  their  initiation  rites,  ad- 
ministered to  the  boys  several  kinds  of  bark 
and  stimulating  plants  which  produced  a  state 
of  intoxication.  When  the  Creek  (15)  boys  were 
to  be  initiated  into  manhood  they  gathered  two 
handfuls  of  a  certain  plant  which  intoxicates 
and  maddens,  continued  eating  the  bitter  root 
for  a  whole  day,  and  then  steeped  the  leaves  in 
water  and  drank  from  the  decoction. 
Marriage  among  uncivilised  peoples  has  al- 

jmost  universally  been  a  time  of  feasting  and 
drinking,  in  which  intoxication  adds  to  the 
pleasure  and  excitement.  In  many  places  it  is 
celebrated  by  special  ceremonies  in  which  drink- 
ing forms  a  part,  sometimes  in  causing  intoxi- 
cation, sometimes  in  other  ways. 

Even  death  has  been  celebrated  by  intoxi- 

I  cation.    Featherman  (18)  reports  of  the  Lapps 


PRIMITIVE  PEOPLE'S  DRINKING     31 

that  when  a  man  is  dying  his  friends  gather 
about  the  bed  to  assist  the  passage  of  the  soul 
into  the  next  world ;  and  in  order  to  produce  an 
artificial  excitement,  and  to  make  them  weep, 
they  drink  freely  of  brandy.  Funerals  often 
close  in  general  intoxication.  Among  the 
Urabas  of  Nicaragua,  (17)  when  a  chief  dies, 
ceremonies  are  held  around  the  grave  for  two 
days,  carried  on  amid  the  excitement  produced 
by  intoxicants.  Among  other  tribes  the  dead 
are  honored  and  remembered  by  annual  drink- 
ing festivals. 

In  a  more  general  way,  aside  from  special 
celebration  and  occasion,  drinking  and  other 
ways  of  inducing  intoxication  have  been  inti- 
mately connected  with  the  social  life  of  primitive 
and  savage  peoples.  In  many  times,  places,  and 
ways  intoxicants  have  been  used  to  stimulate  or 
create  social  feeling.  Besides  this,  many  social 
ceremonies  have  been  described  in  which  the 
use  of  the  intoxicant  appears  to  be  the  main 
function.  We  can  say,  indeed,  that  among  un- 
civilised peoples  every  event  in  the  community 
out  of  the  daily  routine,  which  brings  people  to- 
gether socially  is  likely  to  be  the  occasion  of 
intoxication. 

The  American  Indians  furnish  an  example  of 
the  close  connection  of  stimulants  and  narcotics 
with  the  social  consciousness.  Although  alco- 


32     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

holic  drinks  were  used  among  many  tribes  on 
the  North  American  continent,  the  great  intoxi- 
cant was  tobacco;  it  was  used  not  only  for  its 
soothing  effect,  but  very  frequently  to  cause 
violent  intoxication.  Its  influence  upon  the 
thought  and  social  activities  of.  these  peoples 
was  very  great.  Abbott  (18)  says:  "To  know 
the  history  of  tobacco,  of  the  customs  of  smoking 
and  the  origin  of  the  pipe,  would  be  to  solve 
many  of  the  most  interesting  problems  of  Amer- 
ican ethnology.  Among  the  Wabanaki,  the 
eastern  branch  of  the  Algonquins,  the  god 
Glooscap,  who  is  said  to  be  the  most  Aryan-like 
divinity  not  created  by  an  Aryan  people,  was 
believed  to  b&  a  great  smoker  of  tobacco. 
He  entered  into  smoking  contests  with  giants, 
who  were  his  enemies,  and  put  them  to  rout, 
much  as  our  Saxon  forebears  used  to  drink  one 
another  under  the  table. " 

Among  some  peoples  drinking  ceremonies 
have  taken  on  the  importance  of  state  functions. 
A  very  interesting  example  is  that  of  the  Semi- 
noles  (19)  who  indulged  in  a  slightly  intoxicat- 
ing drink  known  as  the  black  drink.  This  was 
prepared  in  the  public  square  for  the  whole 
community,  by  a  cook  expressly  charged  with 
the  duty.  The  taking  of  the  black  drink  was 
regarded  as  a  solemn  act,  having  both  a  re- 
ligious and  a  military  significance.  Extraordi- 
nary powers  were  attributed  to  it.  It  was  sup- 


PRIMITIVE  PEOPLE'S  DRINKING     33 

posed  to  have  a  purifying  effect  upon  the  lives 
of  the  people,  and  to  efface  from  their  minds 
all  the  wrongs  they  had  unintentionally  com- 
mitted. It  had  the  power  of  imparting  courage 
to  the  warrior,  and  of  rendering  him  invinc- 
ible; of  binding  ties  of  friendship,  and  of  ex- 
citing kindly  feelings.  They  regarded  it  as  a 
blessing  bestowed  upon  them  as  a  chosen  people. 

A  similar  ceremony  was  performed  by  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Tongas  (20).  When  they 
arose  at  break  of  day,  the  higher  classes  met 
for  a  drinking  bout.  The  taking  of  kava  was 
always  attended  with  tedious  ceremonial  and 
the  strictest  observance  of  etiquette.  The 
whole  community  assembled,  but  the  common 
people  participated  only  as  spectators.  A 
kava  party  was  regarded  as  an  essential  part 
of  any  state  affair.  Among  the  Creeks  (21) 
too  the  taking  of  their  war  physic  was  of  the 
nature  of  a  state  ceremonial. 

Much  of  this  evidence  points  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  drinking  among  all  primitive  peoples 
was  religious  and  social  in  its  origin,  and  that 
it  was  an  act  having  significance.  The  use  of 
Intoxicants  as  a  beverage^wasTor  the  most  part 
not  practised  among  them,  nor  even  under- 
stood. The  drinking  of  the  savage  naturally 
and  typically  takes  the  form  of  occasional  ex- 
cess, with  longer  or  shorter  periods  of  total 
abstinence.  The  statement  is  often  met  that 


34     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

tribes,  usually  sober  and  industrious,  on  oc- 
casion indulge  to  great  excess. 

Numerous  examples  could  be  quoted.  Among 
the  Guatamalans,  (22)  reunions  and  dancing 
are  the  most  common  forms  of  amusement. 
These  occur  periodically,  drinking  is  insepa- 
rable from  them,  and  the  invariable  result  is 
that  all  without  exception  become  helplessly 
drunk.  At  other  times  they  lead  sober  and 
commonplace  lives.  The  Dyaks  of  Borneo  (23) 
celebrate  numerous  festivals  of  a  quasi-reli- 
gious character.  The  head  feast  lasts  four  days 
and  four  nights,  and  a  general  state  of  intoxi- 
cation closes  the  solemn  ceremony.  Some 
tribes  of  the  Pueblos  (24)  indulge  once  each 
year  in  a  drinking  bout  which  continues  from 
one  to  two  weeks.  On  these  occasions  they 
take  the  wise  precaution  of  drinking  in  relays, 
one  third  of  the  men  drinking  at  a  time,  while 
the  others  remain  sober  to  care  for  their  com- 
rades, and  to  prevent  them  injuring  one  another, 
or  being  attacked  by  other  tribes.  Some  of  the 
dances  of  the  Pueblos  end  with  bacchanalia  in 
which  not  only  general  intoxication  but  other 
excesses  are  allowed.  Other  tribes,  for  ex- 
ample the  Keres,  (25)  have  the  annual  drink 
festival.  They,  like  the  Pueblos,  allow  them- 
selves unlimited  license,  become  intoxicated,  and 
give  free  rein  to  all  their  impulses.  The  Mos- 
quitos  (28)  have  drinking  bouts  which  last  for 


PRIMITIVE  PEOPLE'S  DRINKING     35 

four  days.  Large  numbers  come  together  and 
drain  a  canoeful  of  liquor  which  has  been  pre- 
pared for  the  occasion.  Sometimes  the  people 
of  surrounding  villages  are  invited,  and  a 
drinking  bout  is  held,  first  in  one  house,  and 
then  in  another,  until  a  climax  is  reached  in  a 
general  debauch  in  which  both  sexes  take  part. 
The  Gonds  (27)  of  the  central  provinces  of  Hin- 
dustan believe  that  on  occasion  they  have  divine 
permission  to  sing,  laugh,  and  drink  according 
to  their  hearts'  content,  and  they  use  this  privi- 
lege by  becoming  at  times  intoxicated  and  giv- 
ing way  to  unrestrained  indulgence,  squander- 
ing all  they  may  have  earned  in  a  long  time  of 
sober  industry.  Other  cases  might  be  cited 
in  profusion,  but  these  will  suffice  to  show  a 
characteristic  trait  of  the  savage's  drinking. 

The  question  arises  whether  the  use  of  intoxi- 
cants is  universal  among  uncivilised  peoples. 
The  statement  has  often  been  made  that  no 
tribe  has   ever  existed  that  has  not  had  its 
stimulant  or  narcotic,  but  this  cannot  be  sub- 
stantiated.   It  is  true,  however,  that  there  is  i 
no  large  area  of  the  earth's  surface  without  I 
its  indigenous  intoxicant.    E.  H.  Man  (28)  says  ' 
that  in  the  Bay  of  Bengal,  prior  to  the  advent 
of  the  whites,  the  natives  were  ignorant  of  any 
form  of  intoxicant.     The  Fuegians  are  said  to 
have  no  intoxicating  drinks  of  any  kind,  using 


36     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

nothing  but  water.  Several  nations  of  Amer- 
ican Indians,  among  them  the  Hurons,  Chi- 
nooks,  California  Indians,  the  Shoshones,  the 
Natchez  and  the  Seminoles  are  all  credited 
eithe'r  by  Bancroft  or  Featherman  with  an 
ignorance  of  alcohol  in  any  form,  though,  like 
other  tribes,  they  probably  used  tobacco  to  pro- 
duce intoxication.  Some  tribes  of  Indians  in 
New  Granada,  South  America,  are  said  not  only 
to  have  no  intoxicant  of  their  own,  but  to  refuse 
persistently  the  drinks  of  the  whites.  But  these 
are  decidedly  the  exceptions.  Almost  every- 
where will  be  found  some  intoxicant. 

Although  uncivilised  man  cannot  be  said  to 
be  entirely  devoid  of  ideals  of  temperance  or 
perhaps  even  of  abstinence,  temperance, 
morally  enjoined,  seems  to  be  on  the  whole  for- 
eign to  the  savage's  habit  of  thought.  We  find, 
rather,  that  intoxication  is  often  commanded  by 
religious  laws,  or  prescribed  by  social  custom  to 
all.  Spencer  thinks  that  temperance  arose  as 
self-control  in  order  to  offer  libations  to  the 
gods.  Such  facts  as  those  we  have  just  been 
reviewing  indicate  that  regulation  of  drink- 
ing was  at  least  connected  with  religious  ritual 
and  social  etiquette.  Whatever  is  enjoined 
must  be  regulated,  and  the  more  important  a 
function  becomes,  the  more  likely  is  it  to  be 
hedged  about  by  laws  and  custom.  Laws  regu- 
lating drinking  among  lower  classes,  prohibition 


PKIMITIVE  PEOPLE'S  DRINKING     37 

of  drinking  to  women  and  to  children,  may  well 
have  taken  rise  in  the  belief  in  the  divine  origin 
of  intoxication.  Doubtless  other  motives  en- 
tered. There  was  more  temperance  among 
women  than  among  men,  because  their  activities 
were  less  exciting  and  more  regular;  and  be- 
cause, too,  of  deep  psychical  differences.  Ob- 
vious physical  ills  from  excessive  drinking  must 
also  have  played  a  considerable  part  in  enforc- 
ing abstinence.  Whatever  decreased  capacity 
for  warfare,  or  increased  dangers  from  attack, 
must  of  necessity  have  been  regulated  by  cus- 
tom. Thus  moral  attitudes  towards  drink  may 
have  crept  in,  self-control  appearing  virtuous 
at  first  for  practical  reasons  long  before  it  was 
recognised  as  an  ideal  or  was  motivated  by 
inner  demands. 


The  habits  and  temperament  of  uncivilised 
peoples  illustrate  further  the  fact,  discovered  in 
studying    phenomena    of    intoxication    among 
animals,   that  the  impulse   to   seek  states  of 
abandonment  is  very  deep-seated,  and  that  it  is 
expressed  in  many  other  ways  than  in  intoxi- 
cation by  drugs.     The  main  characteristic  of 
all  these  phenomena  is  the  desire  to  reach  a  mo-  I 
went  of  complete  abandonment,  and  to  carry  on  I 
excitement    to    a    culmination    in    which    the  I 
physical  powers  break  down  and  are  exhausted. 


38     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

This  moment  is  induced  in  so  many  ways,  and 
it  appears  to  be  so  marked  a  quality  of  develop- 
ing minds  and  bodies  that  we  must  suppose 
it  has  some  significance.  The  culmination  of 
action  in  intense  mental  excitement  is  so  fre- 
quently observed  among  savages,  and  is,  in  fact, 
so  customary  and  natural  a  result  of  all  their 
social  activity  that  we  may  say,  in  general, 
that  whenever  excitement  of  any  kind  begins, 
in  the  activities  of  the  savage,  it  tends  to  be 
carried  higher  and  higher,  until  the  body  can 
bear  no  more  and  breaks  down  under  the 
strain. 

Dancing  best  of  all  illustrates  this  trait  of 
savage  life.  Dancing  and  intoxication  may  oc- 
cur at  almost  any  public  event  among  savages 
— as  marriages,  funerals,  games — in  fact  at  any 
social  function.  The  more  unusual  or  state  oc- 
casions are  often  times  of  throwing  off  all 
control,  and  giving  the  mind  over  to  the  effects 
of  violent  movement,  sexual  excitement,  intoxi- 
cation by  drugs,  and  to  general  abandon.  In- 
toxicants may  or  may  not  be  used  to  induce 
these  states.  Scourging  of  the  body,  games 
of  torture,  pain  of  any  kind,  fantastic  sights, 
hideous  sounds,  as  well  as  violent  movements, 
all  serve  the  same  purpose.  Public  festivals 
which  begin  with  much  dignity  often  degenerate 
into  scenes  of  wild  disorder  before  they  are 
finished.  The  great  war  dance  of  the  Tupis,  (20) 


PRIMITIVE  PEOPLE'S  DRINKING     39 

a  description  of  which  happens  to  be  at 
hand  will  illustrate  this.  In  this  dance  the 
people  arranged  themselves  in  groups,  and  at 
a  well-understood  signal  each  group  began  to 
sing,  at  first  in  a  low  tone,  or  humming,  which 
was  continued  for  a  long  time  with  an  ever-in- 
creasing sound,  until  it  terminated  in  dreadful 
yells  and  hideous  howls.  As  the  sound  in- 
creased, the  jumping  became  more  violent,  un- 
til the  effort  was  finally  so  furious  that  many 
would  fall  to  the  ground  unconscious.  Three 
or  four  sorcerers  stood  in  the  centre,  shook  the 
tamarack,  and  blew  tobacco  smoke  from  cane 
pipes  upon  the  dancers. 

Mrs.  French-Sheldon,  (30)  in  writing  of.  the 
customs  of  the  natives  of  East  Africa,  gives  an 
interesting  account  of  dances  in  which  the  de- 
sire for  excitement  is  carried  to  a  great  ex- 
cess. She  says, 

"The  young  fellows  will  collect  in  groups  and  dance  as 
though  in  competition;  they  dance  with  their  knees  rigid, 
jumping  into  the  air  until  their  excitement  becomes  very 
great  and  their  energy  almost  spasmodic,  leaving  the  ground 
frequently  three  feet  as  they  jump  into  the  air.  lAt  some 
of  their  festivals  this  dancing  is  carried  to  such  an  extent 
that  I  have  seen  a  young  fellow's  muscles  quiver  from  head 
to  foot,1  and  his  jaws  tremble  without  any  apparent  ability 
on  his  part  to  control  them,  until,  foaming  at  the  mouth  and 
his  eyes  rolling,  he  falls  in  a  paroxysm  upon  the  ground  to 
be  carried  off  by  his  companions.  This  method  of  seeking 
artificial  physical  excitement  bears  a  singular  resemblance  to 
the  dances  of  other  nations  outside  of  Africa." 


40     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

Examples  of  this  trait  of  savage  life  and,  to 
a  lesser  extent,  of  civilised  life,  could  be  multi- 
plied to  almost  any  extent.  The  literature  of 
games,  plays,  and  dancing  abounds  in  material 
which  a  complete  study  of  this  most  interesting 
phase  of  the  psychology  of  intoxication  would 
need  to  take  into  full  account. 

An  interesting  comparison  might  be  made  of 
the  intoxication  habits  of  the  savage  and  of 
the  child.  Love  of  excitement,  and  the  volun- 
tary seeking  of  the  moment  of  abandonment 
is  a  marked  characteristic  of  childhood. 
Indeed  we  may  say  that  love  of  intense  excite- 
ment for  its  own  sake  is  a  normal  trait  of  play. 
That  such  impulses  are  not  merely  the  result 
of  an  overflow  of  energy,  but  that  they  are  in- 
spired by  deep  instincts,  or  are  caused  by  pro- 
found effects  of  activity  upon  the  body,  is  shown 
by  the  fact  that  the  fatigued  child,  and  the 
child  defective  in  energy,  are  often  quite  as  sus- 
ceptible to  these  states  as  the  strong  child. 
Even  in  young  infants  the  tendency  toward 
cumulative  excitement  and  crisis  may  be  ob- 
served, as  in  the  caressing  movements,  which 
often  begin  softly  and  end  in  a  paroxysm  of 
excitement,  with  striking  and  other  violent 
movements  and  muscular  convulsion.  Craving 
for  strong  sensation,  for  violent  laughter,  rapid 
movement,  whirling  and  dancing,  the  craving 


PRIMITIVE  PEOPLE'S  DRINKING     41 

for  ecstatic  states  of  feeling — all  these  indicate! 
a  natural  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  young  to 
seek  exalted  or  erethic  states  of  the  nervousv 
system  which,  both  in  their  motives  and  in\ 
their  expression,  much  resemble  the  phenomena 
of  intoxication  produced  by  drugs.    At  puberty 
both  the  capacity  and  craving  for  states  of  in- 
tensity are  greatly  increased.    All  the  intoxi- 
cation motives  then  become  active  to  such  a 
degree  that  we  may  say  that  the  whole  period 
is  characterised,  more  than  by  anything  else, 
by  the  love  of  intoxication  (31). 


CHAPTER  IV 

DRINKING  AMONG   CIVILISED   NATIONS 

THE  purely  historical  aspects  of  drinking  among 
civilised  peoples  have  been  well  treated  by 
several  writers.  The  best  account  will  be 
found  in  Samuelson's  History  of  Drink,  and  the 
reader  interested  in  the  details  of  this  story 
will  find  there  much  of  value.  The  present 
interest  is  not  in  this  narrative  as  such,  but  in 
certain  conclusions  that  may  be  derived  from 
the  historians,  which  throw  light  upon  the 
psychological  problem  that  lies  before  us. 

Samuelson  says  that  in  every  nation  there 
has  been  a  period  just  preceding  the  time  of 
highest  culture,  when  intoxication  was  preva- 
lent; and  that  again,  after  the  highest  point  of 
culture  had  been  passed,  a  second  period  of 
intemperance  always  ensued.  In  China,  it 
seems,  there  was  an  early  period  of  gross  in- 
temperance. Mensius,  a  disciple  of  Confucius 
(about  500  B.  C.)  deplored  the  drunkenness  of 
his  day,  and  the  excessive  use  of  wine  in  the 
sacrifices;  and  speaks  as  though  he  thought 
the  nation  was  returning  to  a  former  state  of 
excess.  And  in  fact  it  is  known  that  long  be- 

42 


CIVILISED  NATIONS'  DRINKING    43 

fore  the  time  of  Mensius,  drunkenness  was  very 
prevalent  in  China.  The  Shocking  or  History, 
and  the  Sheeking,  or  Book  of  Ancient  Poetry 
speak  of  an  edict  against  drunkenness  said  to 
have  been  promulgated  about  1100  B.  C.  It 
appears  that  at  about  that  time  drunkenness 
had  gained  such  a  hold  upon  the  people  as,  in 
the  fears  of  some,  to  threaten  the  life  of  the 
nation.  In  India  also  there  was  an  early  period 
in  which  intemperance  was  widespread  among 
the  people.  The  soma  and  the  sura,  both  in- 
toxicating drinks,  were  freely  used,  and  as  we 
have  seen,  the  former  plays  an  important  part 
in  the  religion  of  the  nation.  Its  use  was  not 
in  the  beginning  looked  upon  with  disfavour, 
but  allowed  and  sanctioned  in  the  belief  that 
Indra  himself  could  do  no  great  deed  unless  he 
were  intoxicated.  In  both  these  nations  it  ap- 
peared that  a  long  period  of  temperance  has 
gradually  been  followed  by  addiction  to  the  use/ 
of  narcotics.  Throughout  all  these  eastern 
countries  opium  has  become  a  curse.  This  is 
not  an  accident  nor  a  coincidence,  but  a  natural 
outcome,  we  shall  see,  of  a  decadent  or  stagnant 
national  spirit;  of  the  widespread  pessimism, 
which  appears  not  only  in  religion,  but  in  all 
interests  when  nations  have  passed  their 
growth  period  and  have  entered  upon  a  decline, 
or  upon  a  long  period  of  stagnation. 
Among  the  western  nations  Greece  furnishes, 


44     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEKANCE 

in  the  worship  of  Dionysus,  the  best  example  of 
a  religious  cult  growing  out  of  the  intoxication 
,  impulse.  The  Dionysiac  cults  represent  the 
national  spirit  of  Greece  in  the  time  preceding 
the  period  of  greatest  culture.  In  its  earliest 
form,  the  Dionysiac  worship  appears  to  have 
been  merely  dancing  and  singing  about  the  altar 
of  the  god,  accompanied  by  intoxication,  but 
with  all  the  revelry  there  was  an  air  of  solem- 
nity and  reverence.  This  cult,  however,  spread 
far  beyond  these  confines  of  a  religious  cere- 
monial, and  to  a  certain  extent  was  associated 
with  practices  which  undoubtedly  had  their  or- 
igin in  the  sexual  life.  Here  sex,  religion,  and 
intoxication  were  combined  in  an  undifferenti- 
ated  feeling.  The  spirit  was  one  of  abandon- 
ment. At  the  periods  of  the  bacchanalia  slaves 
were  allowed  a  brief  time  of  liberty,  and  general 
drunkenness  prevailed.  Bacchus  was  repre- 
sented in  human  form.  Women  frenzied  by 
drink  or  excitement  carried  cymbals,  dancing 
and  singing  songs  in  honour  of  the  god.  In  one 
of  the  performances  in  which  the  maenades, 
who  were  women  and  girls,  took  part,  orgies 
were  held  at  night  in  the  mountains ;  there  were 
blazing  torches,  and  the  wildest  excitement  pre- 
vailed. 

The  cult  and  symbolism  of  Dionysus  have 
been  much  discussed  and  variously  interpreted. 
Nietzsche  (32)  says  that  the  Greek  conception 


CIVILISED  NATIONS'  DRINKING    45 

of  Dionysus  was  an  expression  of  the  funda- 
mental Greek  instinct.  In  it  the  Greeks  found 
or  felt  the  revelation  of  the  mystery  of  life,  and 
by  it  they  expressed  the  triumphant  affirmation 
of  life  over  death  and  change.  Nietzsche  finds 
also  in  the  Dionysiac  cult  an  instance  of  th< 
very  close  relationship  between  sex  and  intoxi] 
cation. 

Taylor  (33)  approaches  an  explanation  of  the 
Bacchic  and  Eleusinian  mysteries  of  the  Greeks 
from  the  side  of  their  symbolism.  He  says, 

"They  were  considered  for  two  thousand  years  or  more  the 
appointed  means  of  regeneration  through  an  interior  union 
with  the  divine  essence.  They  were  symbolic  of  the  death  of 
the  old  life,  and  the  birth  of  the  new.  The  lesser  mysteries 
occultly  signified  the  miseries  of  the  soul  while  in  subjection 
to  the  body;  the  greater  obscurely  intimated  by  mystic  and 
splendid  visions  the  felicity  of  the  soul  here  and  hereafter 
when  elevated  to  the  realities  of  intellectual  vision." 

Whether  or  not  such  explanations  of  the  form 
of  these  rites  are  adequate,  there  is  no  doubt 
that  the  symbolism  and  the  practices  are  both 
based  upon  deep  emotional  traits  in  the  Greek 
life.  They  represented  the  spirit  of  the  times 
or,  as  Nietzsche  expresses  it,  a  fundamental  in- 
stinct in  the  Greek  life.  This  was  an  age  of 
abounding  vitality  and  enthusiasm  which  was 
about  to  burst  forth  into  exalted  art  and 
thought,  and  was  first  expressed  in  this  crude 
way.  Music,  the  dance,  intoxication,  revelry, 
all  united  here  under  the  guise  of  religious 


\ 


46     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

fervour  to  express  the  natural  exuberance  of 
life  which  was  characteristic  of  this  civilisation. 
-  It  was  the  spirit  of  youth  and  life  which  could 
i  not  yet  be  controlled,  nor  organised  nor  directed 
\  into  productive   and  conventional  forms,  but 
\was  exercising  itself  in  dramatic  representa- 
tion   and    crude    symbolism.     Perhaps    at    no 
other  time  in  history  has  the  inner   growth 
force  been  so  exemplified  and  so  fervently  wor- 
shipped as  in  the  early  period  of  Greek  history. 
The  spirit  of  intoxication,  as  it  was  expressed 
in  the  Dionysiac  cult,  was  one  form  in  which 
this  force  found  vent  in  consciousness.     The 
feeling  which  it  expressed,  it  has  been  well  said, 
is  the  craving  for  "life  and  for  life  more  abun- 
dant." 

The  poetry  of  this  period  puts  clearly  before 
us  the  deep  feeling  element  of  the  intoxication 
impulse.  Farnell  (34)  says  that  the  dithyramb 
began  here  in  the  wild  ecstatic  song  sung  by 
wine-flushed  revellers.  Mure  (35)  expresses 
the  same  view  when  he  says  that  everything 
leads  to  the  belief  that  the  character  of  the 
Bacchic  dithyramb,  especially  as  remodelled  by 
Arion,  was  like  that  of  the  god  and  his  worship- 
pers, an  exuberance  of  jovial  excitement. 
Nietzsche  discovers  here  too  the  origin  of 
Greek  art,  at  least  in  one  of  its  motives.  One 
element  of  it,  he  maintained,  originated  in  the 
phenomenon  of  intoxication  associated  with 


CIVILISED  NATIONS'  DEINKING    47 

Dionysus;  the  other  in  the  phenomenon  of 
dreaming  which  he  associates  with  Apollo. 
Greek  tragedy  is  the  outcome  of  Dionysiac 
music  fertilised  hy  Apollonic  imagery.  Thus, 
in  one  of  its  expressions,  we  can  see  how,  if 
these  interpretations  of  Greek  life  are  correct, 
the  intoxication  impulse,  originating  in  instinct, 
becomes  refined  and  ends  in  intellectual  ex- 
pression. It  is  emotional  force,  controlled  and 
organised  to  serve  the  ends  of  consciously  felt 
ideals,  that  constitutes  the  higher  Greek  cul- 
ture. The  crude  motives  are  taken  up  into  the 
new  life;  the  lower  enthusiasms  are  trans- 
formed, and  become  the  high  ideal  which  is  the 
necessary  condition  of  creative  work  (36). 

A  second  period  in  Greek  history  can  be 
discerned  in  which  intoxication  motives  played 
a  part.  As  ideals  became  military,  and  culture 
declined,  dissipation  followed,  but  with  new 
motives.  There  is  no  longer  in  the  later  period 
the  religious  fervour,  and  the  glow  of  youthful 
exuberance  of  feeling;  but  the  excitement  of 
conquest,  new  and  foreign  ideals,  love  of  wealth, 
craving  to  resuscitate  exhausted  feeling,  fa- 
tigue, and  finally  all  the  ills  of  the  decrepit  and 
declining  civilisation  which  was  merged  into  the 
Eoman. 

Other  developmental  periods  were  marked  by 
traits  similar  to  those  we  have  found  in  Greece 
and  elsewhere.  Especially  is  this  true  of  the 


48     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

early  decades  of  the  Eenaissance.  The  vice  of 
intemperance  was  then  again  threatening,  and 
in  a  sense  it  was  the  keynote  of  the  whole  move- 
ment. It  was  a  time  of  intemperance  in  many 
forms,  and  the  excessive  use  of  alcohol  is  but 
one  expression  of  a  movement  which  culminated 
finally  in  an  intellectual  and  moral  awakening 
of  all  Europe.  In  Italy,  especially,  the  intoxi- 
cation motive  can  be  observed  stirring  all  de- 
partments of  life.  All  students  of  the  time 
seem  to  be  agreed  in  admitting  that  it  was  a 
day  of  extreme  sensuality.  It  was  a  time  of 
love  of  display  and  dramatic  effect,  of  great 
feasts,  and  great  civic  processions.  Especially 
the  carnivals  in  Venice,  about  1450  A.  D.,  which 
were  famous  for  their  great  torchlight  pro- 
cessions, mark  the  culmination  of  this  period  of 
sense  craving. 

But  other  changes  in  the  national  conscious- 
ness accompanied  this  craving  for  new  and 
strong  sensations.  Burckhardt  (37)  says, 

"In  the  Middle  Ages  man  was  conscious  of 
himself  only  as  a  member  of  a  race,  people, 
party,  or  corporation,  but  now  the  subjective 
side  asserted  itself  and  man  became  a  spiritual 
individual  and  felt  himself  as  such." 

Adams  (38)  says  in  substance  that  the  Eenais- 
sance was  more  than  a  revival  of  learning.  It 
was  a  revival  of  emotions  also,  an  awakening 
of  man  to  a  new  consciousness  of  himself  and 


CIVILISED  NATIONS'  DBINKING    49 

the  world.    The  work  of  the  Kenaissance  was 
to  awaken  in  man  a  consciousness  of  his  powers 
and  to  give  him  a  confidence  in  himself.    It  was 
a  craving  for  freedom  more  than  anything  else 
which  characterised  the  times.    There  was  a,i 
change  from  outer  to  inner  control,  and  the] 
result  was  that  there  was  a  time  in  which  there ^ 
was  no  control  at  all.    Hence  the  great  vices  of] 
the  period. 

Burckhardt  (39)  sums  up  the  character  of 
this  age  by  saying,  "The  fundamental  vice  of 
this  character  was  at  the  same  time  a  condition 
of  its  greatness,  namely,  an  excessive  in- 
dividualism. This  immorality  was  a  historical 
necessity ;  with  it  has  grown  up  a  modern  stand- 
ard of  good  and  evil."  Symonds  (40)  also  takes 
this  ground  in  explaining  the  illicit  loves  of  this 
time,  saying  that  they  were  not  merely  sensual, 
but  were  due  in  great  measure  to  the  demand 
for  imaginative  excitement  in  all  matters  of  the 
senses. 

Intemperance  and  strong  cravings  for  excite- 
ment and  intoxication  are  not  only  found  at 
crises  in  development  but  are  characteristic  of 
strong  and  dominant  races.  Our  warlike  an- 
cestors of  the  Saxon  races  and  their  descendants 
through  all  historic  periods  have  shown  a  great 
love  of  intoxicants.  Great  .warlike  exploits 
were  always  associated  with  great  feasting  and 
deep  drinking.  It  was  a  part  of  the  man's 


50     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

equipment  to  be  able  to  take  his  place  in  the 
feast  as  well  as  in  the  fight,  and  the  former 
sometimes  required  no  less  hardihood  of  body 
and  mind  than  the  latter.  This  spirit  was  part 
and  parcel  of  the  rough  virtue  and  courage  and 
force,  which  have  made  the  Saxon  race  domi- 
nant. Crude  virtues  can  be  transformed  and 
polished,  and  even  vices  may  be  utilised  and 
may  furnish  the  basis  and  need  of  control  and 
law;  but  where  there  is  no  force  there  can  be 
no  growth,  and  no  culture.  Everywhere  the  \ 
warlike  and  creative  spirit  and  intemperance  , 
go  together. 

It  is  evident  that  as  society  becomes  complex, 

f  we  can  no  longer  speak  of  the  intoxication  im- 

j  pulse  as  a  single,  uncomplicated  motive.    The 

fl  use  of  intoxicants  is  founded  upon  complex 

\  passions  and  many  interests  and  motives  enter. 

At  different  times  in  the  process  of  development 

and  decay  of  nations,  different  impulses  are 

dominant.     The   effects   of  intoxicants   differ, 

and  the  effects   of  the  same  intoxicant  vary 

much  according  to  the  purpose  and  manner  of 

its  use.    The  same  drug  may  both  arouse  and 

depress  feeling.    The  same  drug  may  be  used, 

in  the  one  instance  to  excite  more  pleasure  and 

to  create  more  abundance  of  life ;  and  again  to 

decrease  pain  and  relieve  from  effort  and  to 

alter  in  other  ways  the  states  of  consciousness. 

Thus  far  we  have  dealt  mainly  with  the  in- 


CIVILISED  NATIONS '  DEINKING     51 

toxication  motive  that  accompanies,  and  is  a 
part  of,  the  impulse  to  seek  the  larger  life,  and 
that  expresses  a  craving  for  more  pleasure  and 
more  activity.  But  as  we  approach  the  later 
stages  of  civilisation,  other  motives  begin  to  ap- 
pear and  sometimes  to  take  the  lead.  One  at 
least,  the  narcotic  motive,  plays  a  great  part  in 
history.  This  needs  more  precise  attention 
than  has  hitherto  been  given  it. 

The  narcotic  impulse  is  essentially,  it  seems,  a, 
desire  to  revert  to  more  primitive  states  of  con- 
sciousness, accompanying  a  condition  of  high 
pressure.  In  its  temporary  and  mild  forms  it 
is  the  expression  of  the  desire  for  rest.  It  is 
associated  with  relaxation,  recreation,  dream-^ 
ery,  and  with  all  that  relieves  from  toil  and 
trouble.  In  its  more  abnormal  aspects  it  is  the v 
impulse  to  escape  from  the  struggle  of  life — to 
produce  an  artificial  satisfaction  of  the  will,  to 
soothe,  and  sometimes  to  arouse  jaded  forces, 
and  to  create  artificial  pleasures.  This  tend- 
ency of  tired  man  has  often  expressed  itself  in 
dreams  of  a  golden  age  in  the  past.  It  has  cre- 
ated mythic  accounts  of  Fountains  of  Youth,  of 
Paradises  in  remote  lands,  of  Utopias,  and  Nir- 
vanas. All  these  are  expressions  of  fatigue,  of 
a  longing  away  from  a  too  tonic  environment. 
This  spirit  is  also  the  keynote  of  mysticism,  the 
constant  theme  of  which  is  Rest,  to  be  relieved 
from  pain  and  weariness.  The  cry  of  Back  to 


52     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

Nature!  which  is  raised  whenever  the  accumu- 
lated weight  of  culture,  conventionality  and 
duty  becomes  burdensome,  is  in  some  of  its  as- 
pects but  another  expression  of  the  same  mo- 
tive. Nietzsche  sees  the  true  nature  of  the 
motive,  hence  his  contempt  for  pity.  "  What  we 
need,"  he  says,  "is  pain,  more  pain."  Again 
he  speaks  of  the  two  great  European  narcotics, 
Christianity  and  alcohol.  These  he  places  to- 
gether doubtless  because  he  recognises  in  both 
the  effort  to  seek  artificial  means  of  escaping 
pain,  in  both  a  means  of  compensating  or  pal- 
liating the  sternness  of  reality.  "Pain  spurs 
the  nervous  system  on,"  says  Mosso.  It  nor- 
mally creates  states  of  second  breath,  and 
arouses  the  higher  enthusiasms.  The  seeking 
of  artificial  means  of  alleviating  it,  whether  it 
be  by  narcotics,  or  by  socialistic  schemes  and 
Utopian  dreams  is  an  expression  of  the  longing 
backward,  away  from  the  influence  of  natural 
selection  and  the  struggle  for  existence;  it  is 
failure  of  the  will  to  live,  while  the  intoxication 
motive  is  optimistic,  representing  the  will  to 
live,  and  the  desire  for  more  life.  /  The  sthenic 
intoxication  motive  thrives  in  an  atmosphere  of 
belief  in  a  future.  Excitement  of  any  sort 
seems  to  quicken  belief.  Stimulants  arouse  it, 
for  such  belief  is  the  expression  of  an  instinc- 
tive craving  for  life.  Narcosis,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  centred  in  itself  and  in  the  past.  It  is 


CIVILISED  NATIONS'  DRINKING     53 

not  the  attitude  of  outlook  or  growth.  It  is  this 
motive  which  a  nation  must  keep  from  spread- 
ing in  its  life;  for  like  the  hardened  artery  of 
senescence  it  indicates  the  end  of  growth  and 
the  beginning  of  decay.  It  shows  that  society 
no  longer  meets  pain  and  need  with  effort,  and 
so  overcomes  it,  but  succumbs  to  environment, 
and  seeks  ease  and  rest  and  surcease  from  toil, 
or  the  delusion  of  a  dream  world. 

Not  only  are  whole  stages  of  the  history  of  \ 
nations  affected  by  the  narcotic  and  other  re-  \ 
lated  motives,  but  within  the  general  movement 
of  social  development,  periods  may  be  detected 
in  which  various  classes  of  society  show,  in- 
dependently of  the  rest,  the  degenerative  forms 
of  intemperance  which  accompany  decay  of 
civilisation.  Whenever  nervous  exhaustion  be- 
comes extreme,  or  there  is  a  time  of  national 
distress  or  reverse,  the  intoxication  motives  are 
likely  to  express  themselves  in  low  forms. 
Then  the  sensuality  of  decadence  ensues  which 
is  found  in  the  degenerate  days  of  all  nations. 
There  may  be  also  temporary  periods  of  stag- 
nation or  retroversion  or  aberration,  in  which 
the  same  phenomenon  is  seen;  for  example  in 
France,  in  the  time  following  the  Napoleonic 
wars,  when  overstrain  and  fatigue  had  brought 
on  an  extraordinary  craving  for  excitement  and 
new  sensations.  This  impulse  then  found  ex- 
pression in  many  ways;  especially  the  litera- 


54     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

ture  of  the  period  reflects  it — and  it  is  seen 
most  characteristically  in  the  work  of  Huys- 
mans,  (41)  the  novelist,  and  also  in  all  that 
school  of  decadents  that  made  a  fetich  of  sen- 
sation. 

The  intoxication  motives,  as  expressed  in 
our  own  national  life,  present  peculiarly  dif- 
ficult and  complex  problems.  We  find  here  a 
very  intricate  society:  classes  intermingling 
and  influencing  one  another;  immigrants  with 
Old  World  ideals  and  habits  side  by  side  with 
native  stocks,  and  amalgamating  with  them ;  we 
see  rapid  growth  in  some  parts,  comparative 
stagnation  in  others ;  we  observe  stress,  fatigue, 
abnormality,  possibly  degeneration  of  some  of 
the  elements  already  setting  in — all  making  an 
intricate  and  bewildering  web  through  whose 
strands  and  fibres  all  the  intoxication  motives 
are  at  work  at  once. 

We  have  passed  a  first  period  of  rapid 
growth  and  simple  pioneer  life,  when  the  spirit 
resembled  in  some  respects  that  of  the  early 
Renaissance,  when  our  ideals  were  not  those 
of  culture  and  temperance,  but  of  force,  prog- 
ress, and  conquest  of  nature  and  life.  This 
pioneer  spirit  has  pushed  further  and  further 
west,  and  has  been  followed  by  an  ideal  of 
higher  culture,  and  more  controlled  and  defi- 
nitely purposeful  activity.  As  a  part  of  this 
practical  ideal  of  efficiency  and  ethical  ideal  of 


CIVILISED  NATIONS'  DBINKING    55 

culture  and  self-control,  there  has  grown  up  the 
ideal  of  the   temperate   life,  which   tends   to 
spread  throughout  society  to  check  the  intoxi-/ 
cation  motives. 

But  mingled  with  this  note  of  progress  and 
control  is  the  narcotic  motive,  an  expression, 
perhaps  in  the  main,  of  normal  fatigue  and  de- 
sire for  relaxation  from  a  strenuous  life;  but 
in  part  a  sign  of  cessation  of  growth,  of  ex- 
haustion and  abnormality — in  individuals  and 
also  in  classes.  Some  classes  seem  perma- 
nently arrested  in  development ;  and  here  there 
is  social  life  on  a  low  plane,  with  the  excessive 
development  of  the  saloon.  Alcohol  takes  the 
place  of  the  higher  enthusiasms,  and  there  is\ 
no  initiative  from  within,  nor  strong  enough  I 
force  from  without,  to  change  the  currents  of/ 
desire  upward.  Here  too  there  is  abnormality, 
fatigue,  and  degeneration  yielding  to  narcotic 
habits  to  relieve  pain.  In  the  higher  classes, 
indifference  to  progress  on  the  one  hand,  and 
over-culture  and  nervous  degeneration  on  the 
other,  are  sufficiently  prevalent  to  threaten  de- 
feat of  some  of  our  ideals.  There  is  in  our 
midst  a  widespread  influence  of  narcotic  mo- 
tives, seeking  to  cope  with  weariness  and  pain 
in  ways  that  are  fatal  to  progress.  It  is  this 
spirit  which  most  of  all  must  be  combated  and 
delayed  in  a  nation;  a  spirit,  which,  when  it 
ceases  to  be  individual  and  sporadic,  and  be- 


56     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

comes  the  dominant  mood  of  classes  or  of  a 
nation  as  a  whole,  marks  the  beginning  of  de- 
cline.* 

Without  attempting  to  carry  out  in  detail  the 
parallelism  between  the  individual  and  the  race, 
we  must  refer  once  more  to  the  similarity  be- 
tween phenomena  of  growth  in  the  two  aspects 
of  development.  The  period  of  accelerated 
growth  such  as  the  early  culture  periods  of 
Greece,  the  Renaissance,  and  our  own  first  cen- 
tury of  history  are  repeated  in  the  stages  of 
development  of  the  individual,  when  he  passes* 
from  childhood  to  adult  life.  In  the  individual 
the  change  is  precisely  that  described  by  Adams 
as  the  course  of  progress  in  the  early  decades 
of  the  Renaissance,  when  there  was  a  change 
from  outer  to  inner  control,  in  morals,  religion, 
and  in  all  other  departments  of  life — and,  for  a 
time,  no  control  at  all.  At  adolescence,  the  hu- 
man being  becomes  a  complete  individual. 
New  forces  arise  in  him,  taking  origin  in  the 

*How  intricately  the  intoxication  motives  are  bound  up 
with  every  phase  of  our  life  can  be  seen  from  such  statistics 
as  those  gathered  for  the  Committee  of  Fifty  and  published 
in  Economic  Problems  of  Intemperance  and  the  Liquor  Indus- 
try. It  is  estimated  that  the  liquor  industries  support  1,800,- 
000  people  in  the  United  States,  and  that  about  80  per  cent, 
of  adult  males  use  intoxicants  to  some  extent.  The  average 
consumption  is  1.46  gallons  of  distilled  liquors  and  18.04 
gallons  of  malt  liquors  (1903).  The  effects  of  alcohol  upon 
many  trades,  upon  crime,  politics,  pauperism,  disease,  is  very 
great. 


CIVILISED  NATIONS'  DRINKING     57 

instinctive  life,  at  first  confused  and  unco-ordi- 
nated,  but  providing  the  raw  materials  of  all 
the  enthusiasm  and  controlled  powers  of  adult 
life.  Now  the  whole  attitude  of  mind  may  be 
described  as  dominated  by  the  intoxication  im- 
pulse. Vice  and  ideality  are  not  clearly  sepa- 
rated from  each  other;  the  individual  is  reach- 
ing out  for  new  meanings  of  life,  for  a  life  more 
abundant.  Impulse  is  stronger  than  the  pow- 
ers of  control,  and  the  temperament  is  all  posi- 
tive— looking  forward  to  life  with  intense  feel- 
ing and  desire  for  action.  As  we  shall  see  later 
it  is  at  this  age  that  the  intoxication  habits  be- 
come fixed  in  the  great  majority  who  acquire 
them.  The  individual  is  undergoing  a  trans- 
formation of  his  interests  from  lower  to  higher 
forms,  and  if  this  process  does  not  proceed 
freely  under  favorable  conditions  of  environ- 
ment the  lower  enthusiasms  and  intoxications 
become  fixed  for  life,  and  are  not  transcended, 
or  transformed  in  the  higher.  At  this  point 
several  of  the  lower  motives  of  intoxication 
impulses  are  likely  to  creep  in.  Habit  may  de- 
velop on  the  basis  of  bad  nervous  organisation.  , 
Excessive  craving  for  sensation  may  dominate 
consciousness,  or  the  social  life  may  become 
fixed  upon  a  low  plane.  The  emotional  life  ' 
may  turn  toward  depression,  and  prematurely 
the  motives  of  pain  and  narcosis  appear,  indi- 
cating the  end  of  growth  before  it  has  really 


58     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

begun.  When,  in  the  individual,  intemperance 
and  drug  habits  appear  after  the  first  period  of 
adolescence,  they  are  far  more  likely  to  be 
caused  by  pain  and  the  narcotic  motive,  thus 
resembling  the  phenomena  we  find  in  the  life  of 
nations. 

V  These  views  give  us  a  clue  to  the  psychology 
of  the  sex  differences  in  intoxication  habits. 
Everywhere  there  is  more  drinking  among 
males.  In  many  places  laws  have  prohibited 
the  use  of  intoxicants  to  women,  and  in  others 
public  sentiment  and  custom  forbid.  But  we 
must  look  deeper  than  law  and  custom  for  an 
explanation.  The  erethic  and  orgastic  psy- 
choses belong  especially  to  the  male  tempera- 
ment. (42)  This  can  be  seen  among  animals  as 
well  as  in  the  human  species.  The  love  dances 
among  animals  are  practised  by  the  males. 
Physiologically,  the  habit  of  the  male  is  de- 
scribed as  erethic  or  katabolic,  that  of  the  fe- 
male as  anabolic.  Those  states  in  which  energy 
kis  raised  to  a  high  tension  to  be  forcibly  ex- 
pended are  masculine,  and  we  must  suppose  the 
V  difference  is  rooted  in  the  difference  of  the 
physiological  mechanisms  of  the  sexual  life. 
These  differences  appear  throughout  the  whole 
history  of  the  race.  Ellis  (43)  says,  for  ex- 
ample, that  among  primitive  peoples,  occupa- 
tions which  require  intense  activity  alternating 
with  long  periods  of  inactivity  are  always 


CIVILISED  NATIONS'  DRINKING    59 

chosen  by  the  male,  while  occupations  that  in- 
volve monotony  and  repetition  fall  to  the  lot  of 
the  female.  As  civilisation  has  advanced  there 
has  been  a  tendency  for  these  rhythms  to  be 
obscured,  and  in  many  respects  the  male  and 
the  female  habit  have  become  more  alike. 
Practical  considerations  now  require  that 
man's  activities  be  to  a  certain  extent  routine 
and  monotonous,  but  the  old  habit  remains 
latent.  At  adolescence  it  prevails  in  the  life 
of  every  normal  individual,  and  throughout 
life  it  persists,  determining  no  doubt  our  sea- 
sonal cravings,  our  vacations,  and  it  is  quite 
likely  the  basis  of  the  periodical  drinking  of 
the  abnormal  type.  Work  normally  takes  up  in 
part  the  capacities  and  cravings  for  erethic  and 
excited  states  and  directs  energy  in  a  more 
even  flow,  but  when  control  is  relaxed  or  the 
organism  and  its  activities  are  imperfectly  in- 
tegrated and  ill  adapted  to  life,  the  old  erethic 
rhythms  may  prevail.  Woman  has  far  less  of 
this  habit,  therefore  she  is  less  prone  to  in- 
toxication motives.  Her  body  is  more  likely  to 
suffer  injury  and  her  functions  to  be  disturbed 
by  erethic  activities.  Hence  we  find  that  the 
motive  which  in  women  leads  to  drinking  is 
likely  to  be  pain;  that  her  use  of  intoxicants  is 
more  likely  to  be  solitary;  that  the  narcotic  ef- 
fects of  drugs  are  more  pronounced  in  her,  and, 
are  more  often  sought. 


60     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

This  review  of  the  facts  about  intoxication  in 
animals,  in  primitive  and  civilised  peoples,  and 
in  the  individual,  incomplete  as  it  is,  has  al- 
ready suggested  many  points  of  view  and  some 
conclusions,  which  we  must  later  consider  in  the 
practical  study  of  intemperance.  If  precise 
and  certain  conclusions  can  seldom  be  reached, 
the  depth  of  the  psychological  motives  which 
enter  into  the  drinking  habits  of  civilised  man : 
the  heredity,  so  to  speak,  that  lies  behind  them, 
seems  at  least  to  be  apparent. 

A  few  words  of  summary  will  serve  to  bring 
the  facts  to  sharper  focus.  The  use  of  intoxi- 
cants has  been  shown  to  be  almost,  though 
seemingly  not  quite,  universal;  so  nearly,  how- 
ever, that  exceptions  are  quite  noteworthy  and 
have  attracted  the  attention  of  observers.  In- 
toxication appears  to  have  originated  in  the 
social  life,  and  there  is  much  to  convince  us,  in 
the  religious  ceremonial.  It  is  highly  probable 
that  the  use  of  fermented  drinks  began  in  pro- 
ducing intoxication,. rather  than  in  the  moder- 
ate drinking  of  them  as  beverages,  which  seems 
to  be  a  degenerate  form  of  their  use,  and  to 
have  come  late.  A  careful  examination  of  the 
ethnological  literature  fails  to  disclose  the  fact 
that  taste  was  much  concerned  in  the  use  of 
intoxicants,  or  had  much  to  do  with  the  dis- 
covery of  them.  Uncivilised  man  in  his  natural 
state  is  not  a  steady  and  habitual  drinker. 


CIVILISED  NATIONS'  DRINKING    61 

Drinking,  for  him,  is  not  mere  drinking.  He 
drinks  alcohol  occasionally  to  secure  some  de- 
gree of  intoxication,  and  usually  for  a  purpose 
His  drinking  is  likely  to  be  periodic,  and  in 
general  it  is  characterised  by  great  excess  and 
uncontrolled  excitement. 

In  view  of  these  facts  it  is  unscientific,  at 
least,  to  regard  the  drinking  of  alcohol  as  merely 
a  sin :  something  that  man  has  acquired  as  the 
result  of  a  fall  from  a  primitive  state  of  vir- 
tue, as  the  crude  ante-Darwinian  theology  de- 
clares. The  fact  that  almost  every  primitive 
and  savage  people  has  succeeded  in  discovering 
an  intoxicating  drink  must  be  taken  into  ac- 
count; that  among  these  peoples  drinking  to 
intoxication,  instead  of  being  regarded  as  a 
sin,  was  approved  by  custom  and  conscience. 
They  drank  in  their  sacred  rites,  and  the  wide- 
spread prevalence  of  intoxication  cults  leaves 
no  doubt  that  the  state  was  naturally  and  habit- 
ually thought  an  inspired  condition,  in  the  clos- 
est relation  to  the  part  of  life  thought  to  be 
most  significant  and  profound.  The  savage, 
strange  as  it  may  seem  to  us,  drank  and  prayed 
in  the  same  act.  The  fact  that  intoxicants  were 
used  publicly  shows  that  their  use  was  far  re- 
moved from  those  acts  that  are  covered  with 
shame.  These  arguments  do  not  lead  in  the 
least  to  the  view  that  intoxication  at  the  pres- 
ent time  is  normal  or  right;  but  they  do  show 


62     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

that,  to  the  extent  the  whole  manner  of  life  of 
the  savage  is  natural,  sane,  and  good,  the  in- 
toxication cult  partakes  of  the  same  qualities. 
To  the  savage's  mind  drinking  is  not  immoral; 
indeed,  according  to  his  belief,  there  was  no 
function  of  life  too  solemn  or  too  sacred  to  be 
accompanied  by  intoxication,  or  at  least  by  the 
use  of  intoxicating  drinks. 

When  whole  races  of  people,  widely  scattered 
over  the  earth,  are  found  to  indulge  in  a  prac- 
tice, when  these  practices  are  found  to  have 
the  most  intimate  connection  with  the  social  and 
religious  life,  and  are  not  the  result  of  fad  or 
fashion  but  grow  out  of  deep  beliefs,  we  must 
be  cautious,  we  insist,  about  naming  these  prac- 
tices either  abnormal  or  immoral.  For  it  is 
likely  that  the  words  may  have  no  significance. 
If  we  can  find  no  morality  nor  sanity  in  the 
most  forceful  and  productive  impulses  of 
human  nature,  we  may  become  suspicious  of 
our  moral  judgments  themselves,  which  are 
grounded  upon  quite  similar  roots  of  the  emo- 
tional and  instinctive  life.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  we  can  explain  and  justify  nature,  and 
discover  value  and  progress  in  the  means  na- 
ture has  taken  in  producing  civilised  man,  we 
shall  find  ourselves  with  a  far  better  command 
of  scientific  principles  and  practical  formulas, 
than  if  we  merely  pronounce  abnormal  that 
which  we  do  not  see  to  be  in  accordance  with 


CIVILISED  NATIONS'  DRINKING    63 

our  present  ideals.  It  is  very  important  to  dis- 
cover precisely  the  significance  of  intoxication 
in  nature 's  scheme  of  development  of  man,  to 
understand  what  its  use  may  have  been  in  the 
early  stages  and  in  laying  foundations  for  later 
growth.  What  would  civilised  life  now  lack  if 
alcohol  had  never  been  discovered,  and  intoxica- 
tion rites  had  never  been  practised?  Already 
we  have  answered  these  questions  in  part  by 
asserting  some  very  general  principles ;  but  we 
may  go  still  further  and  see  in  detail  other  ways 
in  which  alcohol  has  been  the  servant  of  man. 

Alcohol  and  its  kindred  have  been  of  great 
importance  in  fostering  those  social  characters 
upon  which  our  present  civilisation  rests.  It  is 
difficult  to  conceive,  in  fact,  what  the  social  life 
of  uncivilised  man  might  have  been  without  the 
use  of  alcoholic  drinks.  The  greatest  of  ob- 
stacles to  social  amalgamation,  to  treaties,  to 
intercourse  among  tribes  were  overcome  by  the 
intoxication  festivals  and  the  drink  customs. 
Alcohol  removed,  temporarily,  the  natural  sus- 
piciousness  of  the  mind,  favoured  common  meet- 
ing grounds  of  thought  and  feeling,  and  broad- 
ened the  whole  social  horizon.  It  is  possible, 
indeed,  that  alcohol  may  have  been  the  deciding 
factor  at  a  certain  stage  of  civilisation,  when 
man's  future  as  a  social  being  hung  in  the  bal- 
ance ;  when,  whether  he  should  remain  in  a  nar- 
row tribal  stage,  or  form  wider  social  groups 


\ 


\ 


64     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

depended  upon  his  social  impulse.  This  must 
have  depended  greatly  upon  the  quality  of  his 
social  feeling,  and  we  have  had  abundant  evi- 
dence that  this  was  profoundly  influenced  by 
alcohol.  By  the  influence  of  intoxicants  a  wider 
area  of  common  ground  upon  which  tribes  dif- 
ferentiated by  environment  could  meet  and 
co-operate,  was  produced. 

Within  the  tribal  group,  too,  the  influence  of 
alcohol  must  have  been  in  the  direction  of  more 
complete  socialising.  It  broadened  the  range 
of  social  feelings  and  let  down  barriers  of  re- 
serve and  suspicion.  Ability  to  segregate  and 
unite  mentally  in  common  social  and  religious 
functions,  has  been  one  of  the  most  potent  fac- 
tors in  civilising  peoples.  Alcohol,  we  may  say, 
has  helped  to  carry  social  feeling  beyond  the 
range  of  the  home  life,  and  thus  has  assisted 
in  developing  the  internal  structure  of  the  social 
groups  no  less  than  the  amalgamating  of  tribes. 

Law,  custom  and  control,  both  individual 
and  social,  were  also  fostered  by  intoxication 
cults  and  practices.  Drinking,  with  its  dangers 
of  excess  and  violence,  its  excitement  and  aban- 
don, must  have  been  a  powerful  stimulus  to  the 
growth  of  law  and  custom.  In  the  intoxicated 
state  the  emotional  power  and  danger  of  the 
human  individual  is  shown,  and  the  need  of 
reflating  his  activities  by  law  forces  itself 
upon  the  attention.  Hence  the  very  rich  and 


CIVILISED  NATIONS'  DRINKING    65 

varied  ritual  and  custom  which  cluster  about 
the  use  of  stimulants,  curious  remnants  of  which 
we  still  have,  in  the  drinking  codes  among  stu- 
dents and  military  groups.  Much  of  the  early 
stimulus  to  the  formation  of  codes  of  public  be- 
haviour, the  regulating  of  actions  between  man 
and  man,  much  of  etiquette  in  general  has  un-  v 
doubtedly  had  its  origin  in  the  use  of  intoxi- 
cants. 

Turning  to  the  more  individual  effects  of 
alcohol,  still  other  relations  of  intoxication  to  ^/ 
mental  development  will  be  found.  In  the  state 
of  intoxication  the  individual  not  only  comes 
into  closer  touch  with  his  associates,  but  he  be- 
comes more  open  to  belief  in  the  supernatural. 
How  great  the  influence  of  alcohol  may  have 
been  in  establishing  religious  beliefs  no  one  can 
now  fully  demonstrate,  but  in  primitive  minds, 
having  a  high  degree  of  suggestibility,  and  a 
narrow  range  of  experience,  its  influence  must 
have  been  great — as  important,  it  is  likely,  in 
the  religious  life  as  in  the  social  life. 

In  still  other  ways  the  effect  of  intoxication 
upon  the  individual  can  be  detected.  States  of 
high  excitement  and  intoxication,  however  pro- 
duced, and  whatever  their  effect  upon  the  organ- 
ism may  be,  serve  the  purpose  of  broadening 
the  emotional  life,  give  the  individual  a  broader  * 
experience  of  both  pleasure  and  pain,  show  the 
possibilities  of  the  imagination,  set  ideals  of  in- 


66     PSYCHOLOGY  OP  INTEMPERANCE 

dividual  effort  and  success,  and  give  new  con- 
ceptions of  both  mental  and  physical  energy. 
There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  conception  of 
the  strength  of  body  and  mind  attained  in  the 
states  of  intoxication  has  been  an  important 
factor  in  creating  confidence  in  the  power  of  the 
human  individual  to  control  the  forces,  natural 
and  supernatural,  that  surround  him.  When 
we  come  to  examine  the  intoxication  motive  as 
it  appears  in  present  society,  both  in  normal 
and  in  abnormal  individuals,  we  shall  see  that 
the  same  attitudes  still  produce  the  same  re- 
sults; that  by  his  states  of  excitement,  which 
are  often  kinetic  equivalents  of  drug  intoxica- 
tion, the  individual  gains  his  conception  of  his 
powers,  and  in  them  ideals  are  set  which  con- 
trol all  his  future  development  and  conduct. 

Considered  in  its  most  general  form,  the  in- 
toxication motive  must  be  regarded  as  a  native 
or  instinctive  quality  of  every  growing  indi- 
vidual. The  craving  for,  and  the  impulse  to 
seek,  states  of  high  intensity  are  so  character- 
istic of  childhood  and  youth  that  they  must  be 
regarded  as  an  aspect  of  normal  growth;  and 
we  must  suppose  that  both  the  capacity  to  en- 
dure such  states  and  the  effort  to  secure  them 
have  been  the  objects  of  natural  selection. 
Those  organisms  which  can  produce  the  highest 
degree  of  power  or  feeling  without  injury  to 
the  tissues  are  likely  to  survive,  because  they 


CIVILISED  NATIONS'  DRINKING     07 

possess  qualities  which  favour  not  only  con- 
tinued growth,  but  make  for  effective  adjust- 
ment, and  vigorous  attack  upon  practical  prob- 
lems. We  must  suppose  that  both  the  capacity 
to  endure  excitement  and  the  tendency  to  seek 
it  have  increased.  By  these  states  the  powers 
of  the  individual  have  been  extended  and  the 
organism  has  been  kept  plastic. 

Precisely  what  the  physiological  mechanism 
of  these  states  and  the  impulse  to  seek  them 
is,  can  for  the  most  part  but  be  conjectured  in 
our  present  knowledge  of  physiology.  We  may 
suppose,  however,  that  they  make  use  of,  or  are 
produced  on  the  basis  of,  mechanisms  that  have 
been  established  for  practical  use.  The  rela- 
tion of  the  intoxications  to  the  sex  erethisms 
has  been  suggested.  This  is  made  still  more 
probable  by  the  history  of  the  intoxication  im- 
pulses in  the  life  of  the  individual.  They  serve 
the  purpose,  on  the  mental  side,  of  directing  the 
energies  away  from  the  central  instinct  of  sex. 
They  provide  exercise,  we  may  think,  for  vast 
forces  in  the  organism,  which  are  always  in  dan- 
ger of  diversion  and  establishment  on  low 
planes,  yet  which  must  be  made  active  if  the 
higher  enthusiasms  and  interests  are  to  be 
aroused.  All  these  impulses  to  seek  excitement, 
all  the  phenomena  of  second  breath,  ecstasy, 
religious  excitement,  have  their  place  in  the  life  «* 
of  the  individual  as  the  raw  materials  of  en- 


68    PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

thusiasm;  they  exercise  the  powers  of  the  body 
and  mind,  and  are  the  parents  of  that  controlled 
mental  action  which  later  appears  as  the  long- 
sustained  attention  and  enthusiasm  and  endur- 
ance of  work.  The  intoxication  motive  that 
leads  to  the  use  of  alcoholic  and  other  intoxi- 
cants is  best  interpreted  as  one  expression  of  a 
more  general  impulse  which  is  deep-seated  in 
the  race,  and  is  indeed  fundamental  to  develop- 
ment ,  very  far-reaching  in  its  effects,  and  multi- 
form in  its  expression. 

The  purely  physiological  point  of  view  that 
is  often  taken  in  estimating  the  place,  in  the 
economy  of  life,  not  only  of  intoxicants,  but 
of  many  habits  and  functions,  is  but  partial. 
•x  Demonstration  that  alcohol  is  physically  harm- 
\  ful  does  not  determine  its  place  in  man's  evo- 
lution. Much  that  is  in  itself  harmful  or 
unhygienic  has  been  utilised  and  turned  to 
advantage,  even  made  physically  hygienic  on 
broader  grounds  than  its  immediate  effect.* 
The  lesser  evil  is  often  employed  by  nature 
to  lead  to  the  larger  good.  The  fatigue 
products  of  the  body  are  to  a  high  degree  poi- 
sonous to  tissues,  yet  their  presence  seems  nec- 
essary for  the  full  development  of  the  powers 

*The  appetite  for  some  poisons,  Sir  James  Paget  claims, 
has  already  been  justified  by  science;  and  the  use  of  alcohol, 
which  is  the  most  widespread  and  persistent  of  all,  will  also, 
he  thinks,  one  day  be  fully  explained  and  justified. 


CIVILISED  NATIONS'  DRINKING     69 

of  the  organism.  Even  when  they  are  pro- 
duced in  excess  they  may  become  the  means 
of  extending  the  capacities  of  the  body; 
and  the  harm  they  have  caused  may  be 
more  than  compensated  by  increased  ac- 
tivities of  important  functions.  The  body 
seems  sometimes  to  thrive  and  increase  in 
power  under  conditions  that  produce  an  abnor- 
mal degree  of  exhaustion  or  poisoning.  New 
powers  are  brought  into  action  in  such  states, 
and  resources  of  the  organism  are  marshalled 
and  organised  in  a  way  that  is  never  accom- 
plished by  moderation.  It  is  quite  possible  that 
at  certain  stages  of  development  practices  that 
may  leave  permanent  deleterious  effects  upon 
the  organs  of  the  body,  and  may  even  cause 
lesions,  have  been  more  than  compensated  by 
greater  power  of  function;  and  that  our  bodies 
have  been  produced  by  such  a  compromise. 
Parts  have  become  less  perfect  that  the  whole 
may  be  more  perfect.  We  may  well  have  sacri- 
ficed as  a  race  many  a  possibility  of  physical 
perfection,  and  have  suffered  many  injuries,  in 
order  to  acquire  some  practical  function.  By 
means  of  the  capacity  thus  gained,  we  may  later 
have  created  the  cure  for  the  evil  from  which 
we  have  suffered,  or  may  have  overcome  its  ef- 
fects in  other  ways.  Individuals,  like  races, 
suffer  harmful  effects  for  the  sake  of  greater 
efficiency. 


70    PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

Such  a  view  as  this,  which  is  borne  out  by 
much  evidence,  has  a  far-reaching  application 
to  the  problems  of  both  the  individual  and  the 
race,  in  both  their  theoretical  and  their  prac- 
tical aspects.  If  it  is  not  sound  it  is  difficult  to 
understand  fully  the  logic  by  which  nature  has 
introduced  apparent  evils  at  so  many  points 
of  development,  and  has  allowed  such  wasteful 
forms  of  activity.  All  such  conclusions,  we 
must  emphatically  assert,  may  be  formed  with- 
out in  the  least  committing  one  to  the  view  that 
any  form  of  intemperance,  or  any  use  of  alco- 
hol or  of  any  other  intoxicant  is  at  the  present 
time  justified.  Cx 


CHAPTER  V 

THE    INTOXICATION    MOTIVES    IN    LITERATURE,   LAN- 
GUAGE,   FOLK-THOUGHT    AND    MEDICINE 

INTOXICATION,  which  has  been  so  intimately  con- 
nected with  the  development  of  the  social,  the 
religious,  and  the  practical  life,  has  left  an  im- 
press upon  language  and  literature  at  every 
step,  and  has  been  no  little  influence  in  shaping 
religious  and  philosophic  thought.  We  have  al- 
ready learned  of  the  close  connection  between 
intoxication  and  religious  feeling,  and  how  in- 
toxication has  inspired  ideals  of  a  future  life, 
confirmed  belief  in  it,  suggested  attributes  of 
the  Divinity,  and  has  actually  created  gods.  Of 
the  many  deities  of  drink  two,  Dionysus  of  the 
Greeks  and  Indra  of  the  Hindus,  are  univer- 
sally known;  but  there  are  many  others,  simi- 
lar in  their  nature  to  these,  and  undoubtedly 
created  in  the  minds  of  men  from  similar  mo- 
tives— to  explain  the  state  of  intoxication,  and 
express  the  mystery  and  feeling  realised  in  it. 
Among  lower  races,  for  example  the  ancient 
Mexicans,  drunkenness  has  its  special  deity. 
The  Nirvana  and  other  philosophic  heavens  of 
eastern  peoples,  we  may  suppose,  have  been  sug- 

71 


72     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

gested  by  the  use  of  narcotics,  such  as  opium; 
at  least  it  is  safe  to  assert  that  the  narcotic 
dream  of  bliss  has  been  one  factor  in  creating 
them. 

The  origin  of  wine  has  been  an  insistent  theme 
in  primitive  thought,  has  roused  varied  specu- 
lation, and  has  been  woven  into  many  myths. 
Among  all  these  myths  of  wine  in  primitive 
literatures,  the  common  element  is  the  belief 
in  its  divine  origin.  There  are  many  stories 
of  the  use  of  wine  by  the  gods;  its  virtues  are 
extolled  as  divine;  and  the  use  of  intoxicants 
is  often  included  among  the  pleasures  of  the 
next  world.  In  the  lower  strata  of  literature, 
in  fairy-story,  folk-lore  and  legend,  the  intoxi- 
cating liquor  often  becomes  the  love  potion  or 
philter;  elixirs  and  waters  of  life,  which  are 
usually  stimulants  and  narcotics,  appear  in  an 
endless  variety. 

The  remarkable  influence  intoxication  has 
exerted  upon  popular  thought  is  shown  by 
the  great  number  of  terms  for  the  state  of  in- 
toxication which  have  been  in  common  use. 
Ribot  (44),  quoting  from  Renan,  remarks  that  a 
people  usually  have  many  words  for  that  which 
interests  them  most.  If  this  be  a  true  test  of 
interest,  intoxication  has  had  a  strong  hold  upon 
man;  for  certainly  nothing  except  the  sexual 
relationship  has  made  a  deeper  impression  upon 
popular  language.  Slang,  especially,  expresses 


THE  INTOXICATION  MOTIVES      73 

undercurrents  of  thought  and  feeling,  and 
brings  to  the  surface  that  which  is  suppressed, 
forbidden,  or  aborted  in  daily  life.  That  such 
a  variety  of  unwritten  terms  has  survived  and 
spread  shows  how  forceful  and  persistent  are 
the  undercurrents  in  which  the  intoxication  mo- 
tives move — and  how  great  a  power  of  interest 
has  run  to  waste  in  our  higher  stages  of  civi- 
lisation. 

Below  is  printed  a  list  of  terms  used  in  Eng- 
lish to  describe  the  state  of  intoxication.  The 
list  was  collected  from  the  literature  of  slang 
and  from  other  sources.  No  attempt  was  made 
to  make  it  even  approximately  complete,  for 
the  purpose  was  rather  to  indicate  the  range 
of  fertility  of  the  language  when  inspired  by 
intoxication  motives,  than  to  contribute  an  exact 
study  of  language  itself.  The  derivation  and 
significance  of  some  of  the  terms  are  apparent ; 
in  other  cases  the  meaning  is  obscure.  Some  of 
the  terms  are  obsolete,  and  are  to  be  found  in 
old  English  writings.  Some  local  terms  are 
included.  Some  are  in  wide  use.  Translations 
from  German  and  French  have  been  omitted. 
It  is  likely  that  in  other  languages  there  is  quite 
as  rich  a  vocabulary  of  intoxication  as  in  Eng- 
lish. A  list  of  more  than  six  hundred  words 
in  German  has  been  collected.  It  is  interest- 
ing to  notice  the  aspects  of  intoxication  that 
have  been  most  singled  out  for  characterisation. 


74     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

Many  of  the  terms  are  words  for  contempt, 
having  reference  to  the  extreme  state  or  last 
stage  of  intoxication,  and  were  inspired  by  a 
sense  of  humour. 

SYNONYMS  FOR  INTOXICATION 

A  bit  on,  addled,  all  key-holes,  all  mops  and  brooms,  all 
sails  set,  a  passenger  in  the  Cape  Ann  stage,  artificial,  at  rest. 

Bacchi  phenus,  back  teeth  afloat,  bamboozled,  banged  up  to 
the  eyes,  battered,  beastly,  been  among  the  Philistines,  been 
at  a  ploughing  match,  hppfl  flying  l"ghT  been  hit  by  a  barn 
mouse,  been  lapping  the  gutter,  been  in  the  sun,  been  rushing 
the  growler,  been  sucking  the  can,  been  taking  bitters,  been 
taking  tea,  beery,  bended,  blowed,  blind  drunk,  blowing, 
blued,  blue-eyed,  boiling  drunk,  borey-eyed,  boosey,  breesy, 
brick  in  the  hat,  bright  in  the  eye,  bruised,  budgy,  buffy, 
bummy. 

Canonized,  can't  say  "National,  Intelligence,"  can't  see  a 
hole  in  a  ladder,  caught  a  fox,  caught  favour,  channels  under, 
chirping  merry,  chuck  full,  clear,  clinched,  cocked,  come  from 
Liquor  Pond  Street,  comfortable,  concerned,  corned,  cosey, 
coxy-loxy,  croaked,  cronk,  crooked,  crook-in-the-elbow,  crying 
drunk,  cup-shot,  cut. 

Damaged,  dazed,  dead  drunk,  dipped  deep,  discouraged,  dis- 
guised, done  over,  doped,  down  in  the  mouth,  down  with  the 
barrel  fever,  drowning  the  shamrock,  drunk,  drunk  and  dis- 
orderly, drunk  and  dressed  up,  drunk  as  an  ass,  drunk  as  a 
boiled  owl,  drunk  as  a  brewer's  horse,  drunk  as  a  drum,  drunk 
as  a  fiddler,  drunk  as  a  fish,  drunk  as  a  fly,  drunk  as  a  Glass- 
port  fiddler,  drunk  as  a  lord,  drunk  as  a  mouse,  drunk  as  an 
owl,  drunk  as  a  piper,  drunk  as  a  tapster,  drunk  as  a  rat, 
drunk  as  a  sow,  drunk  as  a  wheelbarrow,  drunk  as  Bacchus, 
drunk  as  can  hold  together,  dry,  dull  in  the  eye. 

Edge  on,  ejcctrified,  elevated,  exalted,  <>.\liil;irate<l. 

Faint,  far  gone,  feeler  on,  feels  good,  feels  his  oats,  feejs 
right  royal,  feverish,  filled  to  the  brim,  fla^^f_defiance  out, 
'ftafch-kemmred,  flawed,  fluffy,  flummoxed,  flush,  flustered, 


THE  IN?  OXICATION  MOTIVES      75 

flusticated,  fly  blotfn,  flying  high,  fogged,  fogmatic,  forward, 
fou',  four  sheets  in  the  wind,  fow,  foxed,  fresh,  fuddled,  full, 
full  cocked,  full  of  ballast,  full  of  pots,  full  of  rum,  full  to 
the  brim,  full  to  the  bung,  fuzed,  fu/zy. 

Gilded,  gilded  o'er,  gilt  edge  on,  glorified,  glorious,  goggle 
eyed,  got  a  big  head,  got  a  bundle,  got  a  drop  in  the  eye,  got  a 
sniile  on,  got  the  gravel  rash,  greetin'  fou,  groatable,  groggy, 
gutter  legged,  guzzled. 

Had  an  eye  opener,  half  and  half,  half  cut,  half  on,  half- 
shot,  happy,  hard  up,  hasn't  got  his  sea  legs,  hazy,  headed 
for  port,  head  light  on,  head  on,  heady,  hearty,  helpless,  high, 
high  lonesome,  hilarious,  holds  up  the  lamp  post,  hoodman, 
hot,  how  came  ye  so,  how  fare  ye. 

In  a  difficulty,  in  a  very  good  humour,  in  his  altitudes,  in 
good  fettle,  in  good  spirits,  in  his  cups,  in  liquor,  inspired, 
in  the  blues,  in  the  gutter,  in  the  wind,  intoxicated,  irrigated, 
iskimmish. 

Jagged,  jagged  up,  jag  on,  jammed,  jib  well  bowsed,  jim- 
jams  (has  the),  jolly,  jovial,  jug-steamed. 

Kisky. 

Laid  away,  leery,  legs  broke,  limber,  loaded,  loaded  for 
bears,  loaded  to  the  gunwales,  load  on,  looking  lively,  loose, 
lumpy,  lushed,  lushy. 

Main  brace  well  spliced,  making  m's  and  w*s,  martin  drunk, 
mawled,  medza-beargeared,  mellow,  miraculous,  moony,  mop- 
py,  mortal,  muddled,  muggy. 

Nazie,  night  cap  on,  not  in  a  fit  state  for  discussion. 

Obfusticated,  off  his  nut,  on  a  blow  out,  on  a  bust,  on  a 
hurrah,  on  a  skate,  on  a  spree,  on  a  tear,  on  a  triumphant, 
on  his  fourth,  on  the  batter,  on  the  beam  end,  on  the  beer, 
on  the  fuddle,  on  the  gay  galoot,  on  the  lee  lurch,  on  the 
loose,  on  the  muddle,  on  the  nipple,  on  the  rampage,  on  the 
ran-tan,  on  the  re-raw,  on  the  slyte,  on  the  stuff,  on  the  tiles, 
one  sheet  in  the  wind,  ossified,  out  of  funds,  overcome,  over- 
stocked, over  the  bay.  f^f 

Paralyzed,  peckish,  petrified,  pickled,  pificated,  piper-fou', 
ploughed,  podgy,  pretty  well  entered,  primed,  pruned,  pushed. 

Queered,  quaffed  the  bowl. 


\ 


76  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTE MPEBANCE 

Raddled,  rather  touched,  razzle-dazzle,  reeling,  right,  romeo, 
roaring,  roaring  drunk,  roaring  fou',  rococo,  rotten  drunk. 

Salted  down,  salubrious,  sawed,  scammered,  screwed,  sees 
two  moons,  set  up,  sewed  up,  shaking  a  cloth  in  the  wind, 
shaky,  shaved,  shocked,  shot,  shot  in  the  neck,  skaty,  skate 
on,  sleepy,  slewed,  smashed,  smeekit,  smelling  of  the  cork, 
smoled,  snakes  in  his  boots,  snubbed,  snuffy,  soaked,  society 
slant  on,  soft,  soused,  spiff,  spiffed,  spoon  drunk,  spoony  drunk, 
spreeish,  sprung,  squiffed,  staggering  full,  starchy,  stewed, 
stimulated,  striped,  stropolus,  stuffed,  sun  in  the  eyes,  swiped, 
swipey. 

Taking  it  easy,  tangle  legged,  tanked  up,  tavered,  thirsty, 
three  sheets  in  the  wind,  tight,  tight  as  a  brick,  tipsy,  tired, 
tired  feeling  (has),  titley,  too  much  fire  water  (had),  took 
a  snort,  top  heavy,  touched,  transmogrified,  turkey  on  his 
back,  twisted,  two  sheets  in  the  wind. 

Unco',  under  the  weather,  under  the  influence,  unsteady,  up 
a  tree. 

Walks  on  a  bias,  water  logged,  waving  a  flag  of  defiance, 
weak- jointed,  weary,  well  under  way,  wet,  whipped,  whittled, 
wincy,  wobbly. 

Yappy,  yaupish. 

The  intoxication  motives,  as  they  appear  both 
in  poetry  and  prose,  furnish  another  field  for 
psychological  study.  There  are  two  great 
themes  clearly  expressed  in  this  way.  One  is 
the  glorification  of  pleasure  and  JifrandnTi,  and 
jrraise  of  the  abundant  life:  the  ather  portrays 
the  desire  to  escape  from  pain?  to  drown  sorrow, 
.and  to  rest.  Thebest  example  of  the  firsFmo- 
tive  is  found  in  the  Greek  dithyrambic  poetry, 
which  has  already  been  mentioned  in  another 
connection.  The  same  spirit  of  abandon,  love 
of  exaggeration  and  excess  appear  everywhere 


THE  INTOXICATION  MOTIVES      77 

in  the  literature  of  drink.  Such  verses  as  the 
following  show  this  mood,  which  is  quite  char- 
acteristic of  the  drinking  song  and  verse: 

"When  I  am  dead  with  wine  my  body  lave, 
For  obit  chant  a  bacchanalian  stave." 

Omar  Khayydm. 

"The  dry  and  dusty  earth  drinks, 
The  trees  too  drink  her  moisture; 
The  sea  doth  drink  the  rivers, 
The  sun  doth  drink  the  sea  waves. 
The  moon  doth  drink  the  sunbeams, 
Why  cavil  then  at  me,  friend, 
That  I  am  fond  of  drinking?" 

Anacreon. 

In  the  college  song  books  drinking  is  the  most 
'  common  theme,  excepting  love.  Here  the  spirit 
is  for  the  most  part,  like  that  of  the  Greek 
dithyramb,  one  of  jovial  excitement  and  love 
of  abandon;  but  there  is  also  a  thread  of  shal- 
low pessimism,  of  young  life  precociously  wise 
in  experience.  The  praise  of  drink  as  a  cure 
for  care  and  trouble  is  frequently  sung,  but 
often  in  a  way  that  indicates  that  the  experience 
from  which  the  pessimistic  note  comes  is  ideal 
rather  than  actual.  But  this  tone  of  pessimism 
mingled  with  the  joyousness  and  freedom  of 
youth  is  prophetic  of  the  more  serious  pessi- 
mism which  riper  age  sings.  The  poetry  of 
v  Omar  Khayyam  expresses  the  narcotic  motive 
more  fully  than  any  other,  and  must  serve  as 
our  one  illustration  of  the  theme  which  appears 


78     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

in  so  many  forms  in  the  literature  of  drink. 
Some  interpret  the  quatrains  of  Khayyam  as 
symbolic — as  clothing  the  Deity  in  the  form  of 
wine,  as  did  Hafiz  and  other  Sufi  poets.  If  this 
is  true  it  is  another  proof  of  the  religious  signif- 
icance of  intoxication.  But  Fitzgerald  (45)  re- 
jects this  view,  saying  that  Khayyam  is  just 
what  he  appears  to  be — a  material  epicurean. 
Through  all  this  poetry  runs  the  narcotic  theme. 
He  frequently  refers  to  the  wheel  of  heaven  and 
the  world's  injustice.  He  hates  the  hypocrisy 
of  the  pious,  and  bitterly  charges  the  sins  of 
man  to  the  account  of  the  Creator.  For  him 
N  wine  was  a  means  of  relief  from  care,  fatigue, 
and  trouble.  He  says : 

"Endure  this  world  without  my  wine,  I  cannot; 
Drag  on  life's  load  without  my  cup,  I  cannot." 

And  again, 

"Life  is  a  poison  rank,  and  antidote  save 
Grape  juice  there  is  none." 

And  he  sings  what  many  drunkards  say  when 
they  declare  that  drink  dims  all  other  pleas- 
ures of  life,  for  he  cries : 

"They  preach  how  sweet  these  Houri  brides  will  be, 
But  I  say  wine  is  sweeter,  taste  and  see." 

Much  more  might  of  course  be  added  to  this 

I    account  of  the  effect  upon  literature  of  the  in- 

toxication  motives,  and  the  manner  in  which 


J 


THE  INTOXICATION  MOTIVES      79 

these  themes  have  been  expressed  in  verse  and 
song.  Interesting  as  it  might  prove  to  follow 
out  this  topic,  its  value  would  perhaps  be  greater 
for  the  psychology  of  literature  and  language 
than  for  the  psychology  of  intoxication,  for  the 
motives  which  we  are  studying  are  expressed 
in  other  ways  more  accessible  to  interpretation. 
But  we  may  emphasise  the  profound  effect  these 
motives  have  had  upon  the  imagination,  one 
evidence  of  which  is  to  be  found  in  the  study  of 
literature. 

The  direct  effect  of  the  state  of  intoxication 
and  stimulation  by  narcotics  and  intoxicants 
upon  the  production  of  the  literature  is  another 
theme  full  of  interest  and  psychological  sugges- 
tiveness.  Many  examples  are  known  of  writers 
who,  whether  intentionally  or  not,  have 
found  inspiration  in  excitement  caused  by 
alcohol  and  other  drugs.  One  may  mention 
Burns,  Byron,  Coleridge,  De  Quincey,  Poe,  as 
examples  among  moderns  of  many  who  have 
been  similarly  influenced  in  their  work  by  arti- 
ficial stimulation.  The  effect  upon  the  spoken 
word  has  also  been  great.  Alcohol  has  played 
a  part,  not  only  in  making  men  impressionable 
and  receptive  to  the  influence  of  the  eloquent 
word,  but  has  roused  and  stimulated  the  lan- 
guage sense,  and  the  feeling  upon  which  it  is 
based.  There  are  many  stories  of  great 
speeches  inspired  by  intoxicants,  but  it  is  likely 


80     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEKANCE 

that  for  genius  that  has  thus  been  excited 
or  expressed  the  world  has  paid  a  good  price  in 
other  work  ruined  or  confused. 

Another  historical  aspect  of  intoxication  de- 
mands brief  mention  in  this  connection,  for  it 
shows  how  intoxication  motives  have  influenced 
another  great  field  of  thought.  That  is,  the 
theory  of  stimulus  in  medicine  (46).  It  would 
be  difficult  to  prove  definitely  the  connection  be- 
tween modern  medicine,  and  the  ancient  prac- 
tices of  the  shamans,  but  it  would  be  strange  if 
beliefs  and  rites  which  played  so  great  a  part  in 
primitive  medicine,  as  did  intoxication  and 
its  cults,  had  not  been  re-echoed  in  a  later  day. 

The  doctrine  of  stimulus  has  had  a  long  and 
interesting  history  in  medicine.  The  dualistic 
theories  of  Aristotle  and  Plato,  which  placed 
the  soul  and  life  in  contradistinction  to  body 
and  matter,  were  absorbed  into  the  theory  of 
medicine  at  an  early  date.  Life  came  to  be  re- 
garded as  an  entity  or  principle  which  opposed 
or  controlled  the  body.  In  order  to  cure  dis- 
ease this  vital  principle  must  be  spurred  on  to 
increased  effort.  Hence  the  disproportionate 
use  in  medicine,  even  down  to  our  own  day,  of 
drugs  that  affect  the  mind,  and  the  slow  adop- 
tion of  remedies  which  act  upon  organs  whose 
functions  are  not  directly  reported  to  conscious- 
ness. Many  celebrated  early  physicians,  in- 


THE  INTOXICATION  MOTIVES  •    81  • 

eluding  Galen,  Paracelsus,  van  Helmont,  and 
Hoffman,  assumed  a  life  principle  which  must 
be  assisted  by  stimulation  when  it  strives  with 
disease. 

In  our  own  day,  although  the  theory  of  a  life 
principle  presiding  over  the  body  has  been  aban- 
doned, and  the  seat  of  life  has  been  transferred 
to  the  tissues  themselves,  the  old  doctrine  of 
stimulus  still  remains.  Stimulants  and  nar- 
cotics still  play  a  disproportionate  part  in  medi- 
cine, and  it  is  significant,  as  has  recently  been 
shown,  that  the  success  of  the  patent  medicine 
industry  has  depended  upon  the  fact  that  alco- 
hol is  the  active  principle  almost  universally 
used,  and  the  effect  of  most  medicines  of  this 
class  is  a  mild  intoxication.  These  medicines, 
appealing  as  they  do  to  the  uneducated,  per- 
petuate beliefs  and  practices  that  are  in  es- 
sentials like  those  of  primitive  man.  No  doubt 
the  medical  scientists,  the  charlatans,  and  the 
shamans  have  all  had  a  profound  truth  on  their  , 
side  in  inducing  intoxication  to  cure  disease^ V 
though  they  have  but  half  understood  the  power 
of  the  aroused  consciousness  to  cope  with  the 
physical  disorders  of  the  body.  This  is  a 
power  whose  usefulness  has  not  come  to  an  end 
with,  the  abandonment  of  the  crude  theories  of 
stimulus — but  is  one  which  we  are  just  begin- 
ning to  understand,  and  to  control  by  our  more 
refined  methods  of  psychotherapy. 


CHAPTER  VI 

MENTAL    AND    PHYSICAL    EFFECTS    OF    INTOXICANTS 
AND    NARCOTICS 

WE  have  now  traced,  in  its  main  outlines,  the 
genesis  of  the  intoxication  impulses.  This 
genetic  study  involved  an  investigation  of 
the  intoxication  motives,  as  they  have  developed 
in  the  race,  from  animal  life,  through  the  stages 
of  primitive  and  savage  culture,  and  on  to 
stages  of  growth  and  decay  of  civilised  na- 
tions. By  comparing  this  movement  with  the 
development  of  an  individual,  and  considering 
the  intoxication  motives  in  society  in  their 
relations  to  other  impulses,  we  have  seen  that 
they  have  been  connected  at  every  period  with 
the  growth  forces  and  impulses  of  individual 
and  society.  How  these  impulses  become  trans- 
formed and  radiate  out  into  many  departments 
of  life,  as  life  becomes  complex,  has  also  been 
explained,  as  well  as  the  manner  in  which  de- 
generation sets  in,  when  growth  forces  fail  to 
carry  the  organism,  whether  of  individual  or 
society,  to  higher  stages;  and  how  the  narcotic 
impulse  arises  as  a  result  of  pain,  fatigue,  and 
old  age. 

82 


MENTAL  AND  PHYSICAL  EFFECTS    83 

Such  a  view  as  that  to  which  we  have  been  led 
by  the  genetic  study  of  intoxication  will  serve 
as  a  foundation  upon  which  further  study  may 
be  made.  It  must  be  taken  into  account 
by  any  theory  of  intoxication,  or  any  theory  of 


control  of  the  present 


evils  of  intemperance. 


Yet  no  such  result  can  lie  regarded  as  conclusive 
nor  complete;  the  prcblem  must  be  attacked 
from  other  quarters,  by  other  methods. 

One  such  method  seejms  to  lie  ready  at  hand. 
It  may  be  called  the  analytic  method.  It  can 
be  applied  to  two  problems.  First,  the  state 
of  intoxication  itself  may  be  studied  in  many 
ways,  in  order  to  discover  what,  precisely,  in- 
toxication is.  We  need  to  know  about  both 
mental  and  physical  effects  of  alcohol  and  other 
stimulants  and  narcotics,  both  in  small  doses 
and  in  large  doses.  Such  problems  are  open  to 
experimental  methods.  Stimulants  may  be  ad- 
ministered under  controlled  conditions,  and  the 
mental  and  physical  effects  of  them  can  be 
measured  by  instruments  of  precision. 

Another  promising  method  is  the  study  in  de- 
tail of  the  intoxication  impulse  as  it  is  felt  by 
individuals  possessing  it,  especially  those  who 
have  it  in  a  pronounced  or  abnormal  degree. 
The  abnormal  case  is  nature's  experiment;  and 
by  an  analysis  of  this  the  normal  case  may  bet- 
ter be  understood.  The  study  of  the  genesis  of 
these  abnormal  or  extreme  cases  will  be  likely 


84     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

to  throw  further  light  upon  the  nature  of  the 
impulse. 

The  drugs  which  are  commonly  used  for  pur- 
poses of  intoxication  and  narcosis,  though  dif- 
fering greatly  in  chemical  composition,  may  be 
grouped  under  a  single  class,  considered  with 
reference  to  their  physiological  effects.  Ac- 
cording to  Anstie,  (47)  they  are  all  stimulant- 
narcotics;  that  is  to  say,  when  taken  in  small 
doses,  or  as  an  initial  effect  of  large  doses, 
they  stimulate  the  nerve  cells;  and  in  large 
doses  they  invariably  produce  narcosis.  It  is 
true  of  most,  if  not  all  of  these  drugs,  that 
whether  applied  to  a  single  nerve  fiber,  or  to 
the  nervous  system  as  a  whole  by  way  of  the 
circulation,  they  produce  first  a  stage  of  in- 
creased excitement,  followed  by  a  stage  of  les- 
sened excitement.  Mentally,  effects  are  anal- 
ogous— a  stage  of  exhilaration  is  followed  by 
a  stage  of  depression.  Stimulation,  according 
to  Anstie,  is  an  increase  in  the  normal  func- 
tions of  the  nerve  cells,  while  narcosis  is  a 
paralysis  of  these  functions.  Most  of  the 
phenomena  that  occur  in  intoxication,  he  says, 
are  due  to  narcosis,  and  not  to  stimulation.  At 
the  present  time  many  writers  would  deny  that 
alcohol  is  ever  a  true  stimulant,  and  say  that 
the  initial  excitation  is  rather  a  protective  irri- 
tation, or  a  paralysis  of  inhibitory  mechanisms, 


MENTAL  AND  PHYSICAL  EFFECTS     85 

than  a  true  stimulation.  Schmiederberg,  Bun- 
ge,  Lauder-Brunton,  Krapelin,  and  others  hold 
to  the  view  that  all  the  stimulating  effect  of 
alcohol  is  abnormal  in  character,  while  Bing 
and  his  pupils  maintain  that  alcohol  is  a  true 
stimulant.  Microscopical  studies  of  the  effect 
of  alcohol  have  shown  that  under  its  influence 
the  chromophile  bodies,  which  represent  the 
potential  energies  of  the  nerve  cells,  become 
either  more  rapidly  exhausted  or  less  rapidly 
deposited,  leading  to  a  depletion  of  nerve  cells, 
but  whether  this  process  begins  with  the  first 
effects  is  not  certain. 

In  general,  whatever  the  character  of  the  ex- 
citement may  be,  it  can  be  said  that  the  first 
effect  of  alcohol  (though  there  may  be  excep- 
tions) is  to  excite  tissues.  A  still  wider  gener- 
alisation may  be  made.  All  poisonous  sub- 
stances that  finally  destroy  the  nervous  tissues 
produce  an  initial  stage  of  increased  excitabil- 
ity. Precisely  what  the  nature  of  this  excite- 
ment is  in  every  case  cannot  be  determined. 
It  may  be  very  different  in  different  cases.  Ex- 
citement may  be  due  to  several  causes :  to  nor- 
mal stimulation,  to  resistance  of  the  cell  to 
foreign  substances,  to  the  paralysis  of  inhibi- 
tory functions  of  the  cell,  to  a  release  of  the 
cell  by  the  paralysis  of  controlling  cells.  We 
can  no  longer  think  of  a  nerve  cell  as  a  simple 


86     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

structure  performing  one  or  two  functions.  It 
is  exceedingly  complex,  and  performs  many 
functions. 

To  enter  into  the  problems  of  the  physiolog- 
ical effects  of  alcohol  is  to  come  upon  a  maze 
of  contradictory  opinion  and  pending  conclu- 
sions from  experiment  and  observation.  Yet 
some  important  facts  seem  to  be  established. 
Recent  biology  has  thrown  some  light  at  least 
upon  the  general  relation  of  alcohol  to  animal 
life.  Ethyl  alcohol,  the  basis  of  all  alcoholic 
intoxicants,  is  the  product  of  the  yeast  plant,  act- 
ing in  a  saccharine  substance.  The  yeast  plant 
belongs  to  the  lowest  sub-kingdom  of  plant 
life,  and  is  classified  as  a  fungus.  It  has  neither 
root,  stem,  nor  leaf,  and  contains  no  chloro- 
phyll. It  is  unable,  therefore,  to  subsist  upon 
simple,  inert  compounds  like  other  plants ;  and 
so,  like  animals,  it  depends  upon  organisms  con- 
taining chlorophyll  for  its  food.  Its  energy  is 
obtained  through  a  decomposition  process,  and 
in  this  process  dextrose  is  broken  up  into  etliyl 
alcohol  and  carbon  dioxide.  These  products 
are  both  excretions,  for  the  yeast  plant  makes 
no  use  of  them.  The  law  seems  to  be  fully 
established  that  all  excretions  are  toxic  or 
poisonous  to  the  organisms  that  produce  them, 
and  to  all  other  organisms  higher  in  the  scale. 
Ethyl  alcohol,  then,  if  this  be  true,  is  essen- 
tially a  poison  to  animal  life;  but  we  still  are 


MENTAL  AND  PHYSICAL  EFFECTS     87 

ignorant  of  the  obscure  effects  of  excretions 
upon  the  tissues  (48  49). 

Problems  of  the  general  physiology  of  alco- 
hol are  of  less  moment  for  a  psychological  study 
of  intemperance  than  might  at  first  appear  to 
be  the  case.  The  essential  fact  for  psychology 
is  that  this  substance  causes  a  certain  order  of 
mental  effects.  The  physical  nature  of  the  ef- 
fects must  be  known,  it  is  true,  before  we  can 
fully  understand  the  problem,  but  the  mental 
states  themselves  are  the  central  effects  sought, 
and  these  are  what  they  are  whatever  the  phys- 
ical basis  of  them  may  be.  The  place  of  alcohol 
in  evolution  is  not  determined  by  discovering 
to  what  extent  it  may  be  a  poison  or  a  food. 

The  course  of  physiological  discovery  has 
been  decidedly  toward  the  conclusion  that  alco- 
hol in  any  considerable  quantity  is  a  deleterious 
substance  in  the  body.  The  controversy  still 
continues  in  regard  to  its  food  value,  but  at 
present  the  weight  of  evidence  is  strongly 
against  the  inclusion  of  alcohol  among  true 
foods.  At  most  it  can  be  said  to  be  oxidised  in 
the  body,  and  to  create  heat  and  possibly  sup- 
ply energy  for  muscular  activity;  acting  as 
Starke  says,  like  the  carbohydrates,  but  with- 
out the  power  of  building  up  tissues.  Starke 
perhaps  stands  alone  in  his  entire  denial  that 
alcohol,  even  in  large  quantities,  is  harmful  to 
the  body,  maintaining  that  its  effects  are  quite 


88     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

within  the  range  of  normal  play  of  function, 
and  are  not  to  be  called  disturbance;  and  that 
it  is  only  in  extreme  cases  of  excess  that  we  can 
speak  of  poisoning  by  alcohol — and  then  only 
as  any  food  substance  may  become  a  poison  (™). 

Others  maintain  that  alcohol  is  a  selective 
poison:  that  it  acts  chiefly  upon  the  cells  of  the 
blood,  and  upon  the  walls  of  the  vessels  through 
which  the  blood  circulates ;  that  the  white  cells 
I  of  the  blood,  which  are  very  similar  to  an  amoeba 
in  structure,  and  perform  important  functions 
in  the  body,  are  irritated  and  paralysed  by  alco- 
hol. On  the  basis  of  recent  experiments,  for  ex- 
ample Hunt's,  it  is  asserted  that  oxidation  of 
alcohol  in  the  body  which  results  in  heat,  is  a 
protective  oxidation;  and  in  these  experiments 
it  was  found  that  alcohol  taxed  the  oxidation 
capacity  of  the  liver,  and  left  the  organism  de- 
fenceless against  bacterial  and  other  toxic  sub- 
stances (61).  "*- 

The  deleterious  effects  of  alcohol  in  large 
quantities,  or  from  constant  use  for  long  peri- 
ods, seem  undoubted,  although  there  are  wide 
variations  of  opinion  about  the  quantity  of  alco- 
hol necessary  to  produce  permanent  changes  in 
•  tissues.  It  seems  clear  that  alcohol  can  cause 
(serious  disease  of  the  brain,  the  spinal  cord,  and 
jthe  nerves,  in  persons  of  previously  normal 
I  constitution ;  that  chronic  alcoholism  lowers  re- 
'  sistance  to  many  infectious  diseases;  and  that 


MENTAL  AND  PHYSICAL  EFFECTS     89 

the  effect  of  liquors  is  not  due  to  adulterations 
in  them,  as  some  claim,  but  to  the  ethyl  alco- 
hol itself  (52). 

Experimental  study  of  the  effects  of  alcohol 
and  other  stimulant-narcotics  upon  the  mental 
and  the  physiological  processes  of  man,  not- 
withstanding much  work  that  has  been  done,  is 
still  at  the  beginning,  rather  than  the  end  of 
its  work.  There  are  many  problems  to  be 
worked  out,  some  of  them  exceedingly  intricate, 
requiring  a  minute  and  tedious  experimenta- 
tion, and  difficult  analyses.  It  might  seem  to 
one  unfamiliar  with  such  experiments,  that  it 
would  be  an  easy  matter,  for  example,  to  deter- 
mine what  the  effect  of  a  given  dose  of  alcohol  is 
upon  the  strength  of  a  group  of  muscles,  but 
such  is  not  the  case.  Many  causes  are  at  work 
at  all  times  affecting  the  conditions  of  muscles 
and  nerves,  and  an  apparently  simple  movement 
is  in  reality  very  complex,  and  sometimes  diffi- 
cult to  measure. 

Many  experiments  have  been  made  to  deter- 
mine the  effect  of  small  doses  of  alcohol  upon 
various  mental  and  physiological  processes. 
Exact  investigation  of  the  problem  appears  to 
have  begun  with  Krapelin's  istudy  of  the  ef- 
fects of  alcohol  upon  the  reacuon  time ;  that  is, 
the  time  between  the  receipt  of  an  expected  sig- 
nal and  the  quickest  possible  voluntary  re- 
sponse. He  used  doses  of  from  25  to  60  grams, 


90     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

tested  four  subjects,  and  found  that  under  the 
•influence  of  small  doses  the  reaction  time  was 
shortened,  and  increasingly  so  with  an  increase 
of  the  dose  up  to  a  certain  limit.  The  shorten- 
ing of  the  time  began  to  appear  within  five  min- 
utes after  the  alcohol  was  taken,  and  the  quick- 
ening effect  continued  to  increase  during  the 
first  twenty  minutes.  With  a  larger  dose  the 
reaction  time  was  either  lengthened  or  the 
period  of  increased  speed  was  shortened.  In 
all  but  two  instances  in  which  there  was  an  ini- 
tial shortening  of  the  time  there  occurred  later 
a  lengthening  of  the  time  beyond  the  normal. 

Other  experiments,  made  by  various  writers, 
confirm  these  conclusions  in  a  general  way.  It 
seems  certain  that  small  doses  of  alcohol  tem- 
porarily quicken  reaction  time,  that  larger  doses 
lengthen  it  almost  if  not  quite  from  the  start, 
and  also  that  small  doses  cause,  as  an  after- 
effect, a  lengthening  of  the  time. 

Experiments  made  to  measure  the  effect  of 
small  doses  of  alcohol  upon  muscular  power 
show  results  similar  to  those  for  reaction  times. 
Lombard  found  that  the  taking  of  whisky  or 
claret  was  always  followed  by  increase  in  the 
muscular  power  as  measured  by  the  ergograph 
• — an  instrument  by  which  the  power  of  a  sin- 
gle muscle  (or  small  group  of  muscles)  to  make 
contractions  is  measured.  In  his  case  no  de- 
pressing after-effects  were  noticed.  But  us- 


MENTAL  AND  PHYSICAL  EFFECTS     91 

ually  in  such  experiments  the  depression  has 
been  readily  detected.  Destree,  for  example, 
found  an  increase  in  the  muscular  power  oc- 
curring from  one  to  two  minutes  after  the  tak- 
ing of  alcohol.  This  increase  lasted  from  10  to 
30  minutes.  Then  power  began  to  decline,  and 
was  soon  less  than  normal.  The  larger  the 
dose  of  alcohol  the  more  rapid  was  the  onset 
of  the  depression,  and  the  longer  its  continu- 
ance. Lieutenant  Boy  of  the  Swedish  army 
made  tests  of  the  ability  of  soldiers  to  shoot 
with  the  rifle  and  the  revolver,  with  and  without 
moderate  doses  of  alcohol,  and  found  that  the 
results  were  always  in  favour  of  the  abstainers. 
Schneider  compared  work  done  on  the  ergo- 
graph  after  fasting,  after  taking  a  concentrated 
food,  and  after  taking  Bordeaux  wine.  He 
found  improvement  throughout  after  taking 
food,  and  as  a  result  of  the  alcohol  a  slight 
increase  at  the  beginning,  followed  by  a  de- 
crease. Mayer  experimented  upon  writing  at 
speed,  and  found  a  retardation  as  the  result  of 
taking  alcohol,  the  falling  off  increasing  with 
the  quantity  of  the  alcohol  taken.  Kuertz 
made  tests  of  the  rapidity  of  adding,  giving 
alcohol  in  the  evening  before  the  day  of  ex- 
periment, and  found  a  loss  of  from  3%  to  15% 
from  the  normal  rate,  with  also  a  cumulative 
effect  (53).  Other  experiments  have  given  the 
same  general  result. 


92     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

In  order  to  test  a  practical  movement, 
one  like  the  movements  of  actual  work,  the 
writer  undertook  to  estimate  the  effect  of 
small  doses  of  alcohol  upon  the  power  to  make 
at  short  intervals,  for  considerably  long  peri- 
ods, the  maximal  hand-clasp  (54).  This  move- 
ment is  known  to  be  correlated,  in  strength, 
with  other  muscular  powers  of  the  body,  and 
to  be  a  good  test  of  muscular  power  and  con- 
dition in  general.  The  apparatus  used  was  a 
spring  dynamometer.  It  was  attached  hori- 
zontally to  a  table,  and  was  so  arranged  that 
every  movement  made  by  the  hand  was  re- 
corded upon  a  revolving  drum,  while  at  the 
same  time  an  endless  tape  computed  the  total 
length  of  the  movement,  a  quantity  from  which 
the  power  in  pounds  was  easily  estimated.  In 
testing,  one  hundred  maximal  contractions  were 
made  at  intervals  of  1.6  seconds,  a  metronome 
indicating  the  rhythm.  The  remainder  of  a  ten- 
minute  period  was  spent  in  rest.  This  '  '  round ' ' 
was  then  repeated,  and  so  on  until  six  "  rounds  " 
were  completed,  making  an  hour's  work.  Now 
by  alternating  days  in  which  alcohol  was  taken 
and  days  in  which  none  was  taken,  or  inserting 
alcohol  days  at  other  regular  intervals  in  a 
normal  series,  there  was  a  means  of  determin- 
ing the  effect  of  the  alcohol  upon  the  work.  The 
details  of  preliminary  experimenting,  the  pre- 
cautions to  eliminate  errors,  and  the  mathe- 


MENTAL  AND  PHYSICAL  EFFECTS     93 

matical  methods  used  in  computing  results,  how 
various  disturbing  factors,  such  as  fatigue,  were 
eliminated  and  the  effect  of  the  alcohol  itself 
was  measured,  need  not  be  told  in  detail.  It 
is  sufficient  to  say  that  by  comparing  the  two 
series  of  days  it  was  possible  to  measure  the 
effect  of  the  alcohol  upon  the  muscular  ability, 
at  least  with  a  high  degree  of  probability  of 
having  obtained  correct  results. 

Two  persons  were  experimented  upon.  One 
subject  worked  two  hours  each  day  for  thirteen 
days.  On  some  of  the  days  he  took,  both  morn- 
ing and  evening,  just  before  beginning  the  work, 
60  grams  of  a  33%%  alcohol.  In  this  case  the 
effect  of  the  alcohol  upon  both  morning  and 
evening  work  was  slightly  to  lessen  the  amount 
done.  No  stimulating  effect  whatever  was 
found,  the  alcohol  appearing  to  counteract  the 
effect  of  warming  up  which  usually  made  the 
second  round  better  than  the  first. 

In  the  second  case  effects  of  alcohol  were 
found  to  be  much  the  same  as  those  determined 
by  other  experimenters,  working  with  other 
processes.  Forty-five  grams  of  the  33%%  al- 
cohol had  the  effect  of  slightly  increasing  the 
quantity  of  work  done  during  the  hour,  with 
apparently  an  increasing  effect  while  the  work 
was  continued.  But  this  stimulating  effect  was 
very  slight,  so  small  as  to  be  negligible,  at  least 
from  a  practical  point  of  view. 


94     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEBANCE 

In  another  series  of  experiments,  continued 
for  a  longer  time,  and  done  under  better  con- 
ditions, 90  grams  of  the  alcohol  were  used. 
Still  there  was  no  certain  effect  upon  the  quan- 
tity of  the  work  done  during  the  hour,  but 
there  was  a  decided  effect  upon  the  distribution 
of  the  work.  During  the  first  half  hour  the 
amount  of  work  done  was  increased  by  the  al- 
cohol, and  during  the  last  half  hour  it  was 
diminished,  the  excess  in  one  case  exactly  bal- 
ancing the  deficiency  in  the  other ;  the  precision 
of  this  result,  however,  having  little  signifi- 
cance. The  greatest  beneficial  effect  occurred 
during  the  second  round,  when  the  work  done 
with  alcohol  was  about  4%  greater  in  amount 
than  the  normal  work. 

The  effect  of  the  alcohol  was  tested  in  still 
another  way.  The  ability  to  accomplish  work 
upon  the  dynamometer  during  the  second  hour 
after  taking  the  alcohol  was  measured.  No 
muscular  work  was  done  during  the  first  hour, 
but  tests  were  made  as  before  during  the  second 
hour,  except  that  fifty  instead  of  one  hundred 
contractions  were  made.  Here  too  the  effect, 
though  slight,  seemed  unmistakable.  Less 
work  was  done  during  each  round  on  the  alco- 
hol days  than  on  the  normal  days,  showing  that 
a  slight  depressing  effect  of  the  alcohol  re- 
mained over  at  least  until  the  end  of  the  second 
hour.  This  depression  was  greatest  during  the 


MENTAL  AND  PHYSICAL  EFFECTS     95 

third  round,  that  is,  an  hour  and  a  half  after  the 
taking  of  the  alcohol. 

On  the  whole,  the  evidence,  both  from  our 
own  experiments  and  from  those  of  others,  de- 
cidedly leads  to  the  conclusion  that  the  effect 
of  relatively  small  doses  of  alcohol  upon  va- 
rious motor  abilities  of  man  is  to  increase  power 
and  rapidity  slightly  for  a  short  time,  varying 
with  the  amount  of  the  alcohol  (and  probably 
with  the  temperament  of  the  subject)  and  then 
to  diminish  it.  That  there  may  be  so  slight  a 
stimulation  that  no  depression  follows,  and 
that  increase  in  the  amount  of  the  dose  above 
a  certain  limit  shortens  the  period  of  stimula- 
tion, or  obliterates  it  altogether  seems  proved, 
also.  Though  these  are  effects  commonly 
noted,  we  must  allow  for  the  probability  that 
there  are  some  individuals  who  are  not  thus 
typically  affected  by  the  alcohol,  for  example 
the  subject  of  the  first  of  my  own  experiments. 
But  the  mass  of  evidence,  taken  as  a  whole, 
presents  a  clear  picture,  which  must  be  accepted 
as  reliable.  That  the  stimulating  effect  is  upon 
the  nervous  tissues  and  not  upon  the  muscle 
involved  in  the  activity  is  shown  by  the  ex- 
periments of  Lombard,  who  found  that  the 
muscular  response  to  electrical  stimulation  was 
always  diminished  by  the  alcohol,  while  the 
ability  to  work  under  voluntary  stimulation  was 
actually  increased. 


96     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

The  effect  of  small  doses  of  alcohol  upon  the 
rapidity  and  other  qualities  of  such  typical  men- 
tal work  as  adding  of  digits,  reading,  and  the 
like  has  been  studied  experimentally,  but  with 
less  definiteness  and  less  agreement  in  the  re- 
sults. These  mental  processes  are  more  com- 
plex than  the  motor  functions  that  have  been 
experimented  upon,  more  variable  from  one  in- 
dividual to  another,  and  therefore  are  not  so 
easily  measured  with  precision.  The  early  ex- 
periments made  upon  mental  processes  seemed 
conclusive  on  one  point  at  least.  No  very  large 
quantity  of  alcohol  can  be  taken  without  lessen- 
[  ing  the  amount  of  mental  work,  and  causing  its 
quality  to  deteriorate.  Whether  there  is  an 
initial  period  of  stimulation  was  not  so  clearly 
made  out.  Some  of  Krapelin's  experiments 
seemed  to  show  that  there  is,  but  he  himself 
concluded  that  it  is  the  motor  process  connected 
with  the  mental  which  is  stimulated,  that  the 
effect  of  the  alcohol  upon  the  sensory  functions 
is  always  a  depression;  and  that,  in  a  mixed 
process,  the  greater  the  proportion  of  the  sen- 
sory element,  the  greater  the  liability  to  depres- 
sion rather  than  stimulation. 

Some  experiments  of  my  own  do  not  agree 
with  the  results  of  Krapelin,  yet  they  do  not 
conclusively  refute  the  statement  that  the  sen- 
sory processes  do  not  undergo  a  period  of  in- 
itial stimulation.  Mixed  processes,  that  is,  proc- 


\ 


MENTAL  AND  PHYSICAL  EFFECTS     97 

esses  in  part  sensory,  partly  central,  and  in 
part  motor  were  experimented  upon.  Adding, 
reading,  and  writing  were  tested,  in  order  to 
measure  the  effect  of  small  doses  of  alcohol 
upon  the  rapidity  and  quality  of  these  typical 
practical  functions.  The  work  was  continued 
for  two  hours  each  day,  in  periods  somewhat 
similar  to  those  used  in  the  motor  tests.  On 
certain  days  alcohol  was  taken  five  minutes  be- 
fore the  work  began.  In  all  cases  some  slight 
stimulation  was  found  to  have  been  produced 
by  the  alcohol.  In  adding,  the  quantity  was  in- 
creased slightly  both  for  the  first  and  the  second 
hour.  In  reading  there  was  a  slight  improve- 
ment on  the  alcohol  days  for  the  first  hour,  and 
a  slight  depression  during  the  second  hour.  In 
writing,  there  was  stimulation  during  the  first 
hour,  and  depression  in  the  second.  These 
changes  were  all  slight,  and  the  precise  length 
of  the  period  of  stimulation  was  not  determined. 
Study  of  the  relation  between  work  of  adding 
columns  of  digits  and  reading  the  same  digits 
without  adding  seems  to  show  that  the  effect 
upon  the  sensory  and  central  processes  alone 
was  a  stimulation  quite  as  great  and  quite  as 
prolonged  as  upon  the  motor  processes.  But 
we  are  dealing  with  small  numerical  quantities, 
and  there  are  many  chances  of  complicating 
the  results  by  irrelevant  factors — so  the  ques- 
tion of  the  effect  of  small  doses  of  alcohol  upon 


98     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

purely  sensory  processes,  if  such  can  be  de- 
termined, must  be  left  open. 

These  experiments  give  us  a  picture  of  what 
may  be  called  an  intoxication  of  the  nervous 
system  in  a  mild  form.  So  far  as  that  picture 
can  be  said  to  be  typical,  it  is  this:  At  first 
there  is  stimulation  of  energies,  and  then  de- 
pression. The  effect  is  to  make  work  more  va- 
riable, to  break  up  the  monotony  and  even  flow 
of  activity.  Other  experiments,  such  as  those  pv 
made  upon  the  association  of  ideas,  gave  similar 
results.  Not  only  is  the  association  time  made 
more  variable,  but  irregularity  in  the  character 
of  the  mental  sequences  seems  to  be  produced  by 
the  alcohol.* 

The  experiments  upon  alcohol  may  be  said  to 
prove  conclusively  that  no  measurable  quality 
of  either  mental  or  physical  work  is  as  such 
improved  to  any  practical  extent  by  alcohol. 
This  conclusion  is  strikingly  in  contrast  with 
widespread  popular  opinion,  which  has  always 
maintained  that  alcohol  assists  both  mind  and 
body.  It  is  interesting  and  significant  that  the 

*  The  experimental  investigations  of  the  effects  of  alcohol 
have  recently  been  summed  up  by  M.  A.  and  A.  J.  Rosanoff, 
with  the  statement  that  alcohol  impairs  every  human  faculty 
that  has  been  tested;  that  the  higher  and  more  complex  the 
faculty  the  more  pronounced  is  the  effect  upon  it;  that  the  ef- 
fects of  alcohol  are  cumulative,  and  continuous  use,  even  in 
small  quantities,  impairs  the  faculties  at  a  rapidly  increasing 
rate  ("). 


MENTAL  AND  PHYSICAL  EFFECTS     99 

effect  is  upon  the  feeling  of  power  rather  than 

]  upon  the  energies  themselves.    Alcohol  causes 

/  changes  in  the  intensity  of  consciousness ;  and 

/  this  more  than  anything  else  is  the  secret  of  its 

influence. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   STATE    OF   INTOXICATION 

THERE  are  many  interesting  accounts  of  the 
mental  effects  of  various  intoxicating  drugs, 
some  to  be  found  in  popular  writings.  De  Quin- 
cey's  Confessions  of  an  English  Opium  Eater 
set  the  fashion  for  this  kind  of  study,  and  also 
unfortunately  popularised  the  use  of  opium  by 
writers  and  others  to  stimulate  the  feelings  and 
the  imagination.  Although  the  descriptions  of 
intoxication  that  have  thus  been  inspired  are 
sometimes  exaggerated,  their  points  of  general 
agreement  must  be  given  due  weight.  Experi- 
mental studies  of  drug  intoxications  have  been 
made,  which  will  help  to  correct  the  more  pop- 
ular accounts.  Weir-Mitchell,  Prentiss  and 
Morgan,  Delabarre  and  others  have  contributed 
careful  studies.  JDelabarre  says  that  after  tak- 
ing hasheesh  one  gets  a  larger  conception  of  the 
range  of  the  emotional  life.  ^Frequently  men- 
tioned effects  of  drugs  are  the  awakening  of 
v  early  memories,  exaggeration  of  emotional 
states,  changes  in  time  and  space  perceptions 
(commonly  referred  to  as  a  feeling  of  infinity), 
fantastic  colour  visions,  confusion  of  hearing 

100 


THE  STATE  OF  INTOXICATION     101' 

and  vision,  animistic  beliefs,  philosophic  in- 
sight, double  personality,  sensations  of  exten- 
sion of  the  body,  increase  of  personality.  All 
this  shows  that  a  wider  range  of  mental  func- 
tioning is  going  on  (whether  as  a  result  of 
paralysis  of  control  or  stimulation  of  nerve 
cells  directly)  than  in  the  normal  condition.  It 
is  the  common  testimony  that  the  normal  limits 
both  of  pain  and  pleasure  are  passed.  And  the 
conclusion  which  applies  to  nearly  if  not  quite 
all  the  cases  that  have  been  examined,  is  that 
the  intoxication  is  essentially  a  succession  of 
emotional  states,  or  changes,  in  which  exhila- 
ration, accompanied  by  a  free  flow  of  thought 
and  heightened  sensibility,  is  followed  by  de- 
pression, decreased  associative  power,  and  less- 
ened sensibility.  (56) 

Compared  with  the  other  intoxications  the 
alcoholic  appears  to  have  characteristics  pe- 
culiar to  itself,  and  in  some  ways  to  be  similar 
to  others.  The  effects  of  alcohol  differ  greatly 
with  temperament,  conditions  under  which  the 
drug  is  taken,  and  with  the  ingredients  with 
which  it  is  mixed.  The  mood  in  which  intoxi- 
cation is  begun,  the  stimulus  received  during 
the  intoxication,  and  various  preceding  mental 
and  physical  conditions  all  seem  to  affect  its 
course. 

In  order  to  eliminate  so  far  as  possible  many 
irrelevant  and  variable  factors,  and  to  study 


102     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

certain  standard  or  typical  effects  of  large 
doses  of  alcohol,  the  writer  made  experiments 
upon  four  subjects  under  laboratory  conditions. 
In  this  way  the  exact  amount  and  character  of 
the  intoxicant  administered  could  be  known, 
and  be  made  uniform  for  all  subjects,  and  other 
conditions  could  be  controlled.  The  history  of 
each  subject  could  be  ascertained,  and  it  was 
possible  to  take  into  account  many  facts  of  in- 
dividual differences. 

The  subjects  were  all  mature  students,  and 
none  had  ever  used  alcohol  as  a  beverage — all 
were  practically  total  abstainers.  To  produce 
intoxication,  600  grams  of  16%%  alcohol  were 
administered  in  six  doses,  at  intervals  of  half 
an  hour.  Experiments  upon  mental  and 
physical  functions  were  carried  on  during 
the  whole  course  of  the  intoxication.  The 
details  of  these  experiments  will  not  be  given 
here,  but  the  main  results  may  be  briefly 
mentioned.  Until  the  intoxication  was  well  ad- 
vanced, the  rapidity  of  performing  common 
mental  processes  was  not  much  affected.  Add- 
ing, memory  for  nine-place  figures,  estimates  of 
distance  and  time,  clearness  of  vision,  Were  not 
seriously  interfered  with  until  there  was  a  very 
pronounced  degree  of  muscular  inco-ordination. 
The  strength  of  the  hand-clasp,  and  the  rapidity 
of  performing  a  tapping  movement  with  the  fin- 
ger, were  also  comparatively  little  affected,  the 


THE  STATE  OF  INTOXICATION     103 

tapping  rate,  however,  showing  more  depres- 
sion than  the  other  activities.  In  general  the") 
effect  upon  all  these  processes  seemed  to  come 
largely  through  an  emotional  change;  the  sub- 
ject became  indifferent  and  relaxed  effort  or 
tried  to  be  annoying. 

An  experiment  made  to  test  the  control  of  a 
reflex  action,  showed  peculiar  changes  in  the 
mental  state,  even  in  the  earlier  stages  of  intoxi- 
cation. In  this  test  the  ability  of  the  subject  to 
control  the  reflex  wink  of  the  eyelids,  when  the 
eye  was  threatened  by  a  blow,  was  measured. 
A  simple  piece  of  apparatus  was  used.  The 
subject  sat  behind  a  glass  plate,  which  was 
struck  at  regular  intervals  by  a  hammer  re- 
leased from  the  tension  of  a  spring.  The  three 
subjects  who  were  tested  were  affected  alike  by 
the  alcohol.  ^All  controlled  this  movement  very 
much  better  after  taking  alcohol  than  when  in 
the  normal  condition.  This  was  somewhat  sur- 
prising, for  one  of  the  most  frequently  men- 
tioned effects  of  alcohol  is  an  increase  of  diffi- 
culty in  controlling  movements.  But  it  was  soon 
seen  that  the  reason  for  this  effect  was  a 
(^changed  emotional  state,  which  began  to  appear 
very  soon  after  the  alcohol  had  been  taken.  ^ 
feeling  of  confidence  was  .induced,  which  grad- 
ually deepened  into  recklessness  and  bravado. 
^Alertness  to  the  conditions  of  the  environment 
was  lessened,  so  that  while  there  was  ap- 


104     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

parently  no  diminution  of  sensibility  sufficient 
to  account  for  the  effect,  a  mood  was  aroused 
in  which  response  to  such  stimuli  as  the  threat- 
ening of  the  eye  was  better  controlled.  This 
mood  was  shown  in  other  ways.  One  subject, 
who  was  very  precise  and  exact  when  in  his 
normal  condition,  and  who  during  the  first  two 
rounds  of  the  experiments,  before  the  effect  of 
the  alcohol  was  felt,  was  careful  to  observe  all 
the  conditions  in  the  minutest  detail,  now  be- 
gan to  disregard  the  directions,  until  finally  he 
insisted  upon  doing  the  experiments  in  a  way 
of  his  own,  not  at  all  to  the  liking  of  the  ex- 
perimenter. 

In  all  the  cases  intoxication  followed  much 
the  same  course.  ^Aji  initial  stage  of  excite- 
ment  and  increased  a  cTTvTty, /accompanied  by  a 
feeling  of  pleasure,  was  followed  by  a  stage  of 
depression,  withjiispleasure.  In  two  cases  a 
second  period  of  exhilaration  followed  the  first 
depression,  but  on  a  lower  plane  and  not  so 
prolonged:  a  second  intoxication,  caused  it  is 
quite  likely  by  the  later  doses  of  alcohol,  but 
showing  clearly  that  it  was  but  a  feeble  arousal 
of  activities  already  partially  demoralised.  In 
each  case  there  was  a  peculiar,  clearly  defined 
moment  when  there  was  a  feeling  that  control 
was  in  some  way  being  lost,  and  with  it  a  desire 
to  throw  off  all  restraint,  and  give  way  com- 
pletely to  the  feelings.  One  subject  described  a 


THE  STATE  OF  INTOXICATION     105 

moment  in  which  he  felt  that  he  could  control 
the  intoxication  or  allow  it  to  go  on,  but  that 
if  this  moment  should  pass  without  a  strong 
effort  at  control,  the  condition  would  then  be  be- 
yond his  command.  Another  subject  an- 
nounced at  one  stage  of  the  intoxication  that 
if  he  should  swing  his  arm  about  two  or  three 
times  (illustrating,  evidently  with  care  not  to 
let  go)  he  would  be  "done  for."  What  this 
moment  signifies  is  not  clear,  but  that  control 
functions  of  some  kind  have  become  weakened 
and  are  now  on  the  point  of  giving  way  seems 
evident ;  inhibitions,  the  breaking  down  of  which 
we  may  suppose  allows  parts  of  the  nervous 
mechanisms  to  come  into  play  that  are  not  used 
in  ordinary  experiences. 

All  the  subjects  passed  through  a  series  of 
moods  which  seemed  to  determine  the  character 
of  their  thoughts.  This  is  best  shown  by  the 
association  tests  which  were  made  at  intervals 
during  the  course  of  the  intoxication.  A  list  of 
four  hundred  words  was  read  to  each  subject 
two  weeks  before  the  day  of  his  experiment. 
To  each  word  as  pronounced  he  was  directed  to 
respond  with  the  first  word  or  idea  that  came 
clearly  to  mind,  allowing  the  mind  to  remain 
entirely  lax.  While  the  intoxication  was  in 
progress  the  same  list  was  read  again,  divided 
into  groups  of  fifty  words,  the  same  type  of  re- 
sponse being  called  for  as  before.  The  result 


106     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

of  the  alcohol  was  to  produce  an  increasing 
number  of  reactions  different  from  those  of  the 
normal  reaction,  with  a  gradual  return  to  the 
normal  type  as  the  effects  of  the  alcohol  wore 
off.  These  associations  show  in  a  remarkable 
manner  the  moods  which  caused  them.  As  in- 
toxication increases,  the  incisive,  one-word  re- 
sponse begins  to  give  place  to  the  more  indef- 
inite and  loose  response.  Soon  the  answers 
become  discursive,  until  at  the  height  of  the  in- 
toxication the  subject  wishes  to  make  a  speech 
about  each  word.  This  discursive  reaction  per- 
sists while  the  mood  changes  from  elation  to 
depression  and  melancholy,  and  through  a 
second  period  of  elation  likely  to  be  maudlin  in 
character.  Gradually  the  normal  type  returns 
with  an  occasional  relapse  to  the  intoxication 
type.  All  subjects  were  conscious,  in  retro- 
spect, of  having  tried  in  the  early  stages  to  be 
humorous,  or  of  willingly  giving  way  to  hu- 
morous thoughts.  In  one  case,  a  subject  had  a 
preconceived  theory  that  intoxication  is  due 
largely  to  suggestion;  that  if  one  drinks  with 
the  intention  of  remaining  serious  and  sober, 
there  will  be  little  intoxication.  The  report, 
made  in  retrospect,  was  that  during  the  first 
half  hour  there  was  little  change  in  feeling,  but 
that  finally  there  arose  a  desire  to  make  witty 
remarks,  and  at  the  same  time  the  reflection 
that  to  give  way  to  the  feeling  would  mean  to 


THE  STATE  OF  INTOXICATION     107 

encourage  intoxication,  and  disprove  the  theory. 
This  impulse  to  communicate  witty  thoughts, 
jvhich  came  thicker  and  faster,  finally  became  so 
strong  that  the  subject  could  not  resist  the  temp- 
tation to  tell  one  that  seemed  especially  hu- 
morous. But  no  sooner  was  one  thought  spoken 
aloud  than  another  came,  still  funnier  than  the 
first,  with  the  thought  that  this  one  would  be 
allowed,  and  then  no  more.  So  it  went  on  for 
two  hours,  one  remark  suggesting  another,  until 
the  mood  changed,  and  melancholy  ensued, 
though  this  stage  was  short  in  this  case.  All 
the  time  the  belief  continued  that  the  state  of 
mind  could  be  controlled,  and  that  the  decision 
to  tell  what  was  in  the  mind  was  a  voluntary 
choice.  In  this  case  alone  of  the  four,  there 
was  little  physical  depression,  and  no  feeling 
of  nausea;  correspondingly,  it  seemed,  no 
marked  melancholy,  and  quick  return  to  normal 
condition. 

The  results  of  these  experiments  can  perhaps 
be  made  clearer  to  the  reader  by  reporting  in 
detail  one  case. 

A  Case  of  Intoxication 

The  subject  of  the  experiment  about  to  be  re- 
ported was  a  man  of  thirty-five  years,  serious 
and  dignified  in  temperament,  a  specialist  in 
education,  his  main  work  having  been  teaching 
and  administration.  He  was  in  perfect  health, 


108     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEKANCE 

of  muscular  habit,  and  active  both  mentally  and 
physically.  He  was  entirely  unaccustomed  to 
the  use  of  alcohol,  and  undertook  the  experi- 
ment because  of  its  scientific  interest,  to  have 
the  experience,  and  in  order  to  know  what  an 
intoxicated  person  feels. 

The  place  of  the  experiment  was  a  large  room 
of  a  laboratory,  with  special  apparatus  and  ta- 
bles for  these  tests  arranged  in  one  part. 
Only  the  experimenter  and  the  subject,  and 
during  a  part  of  the  time,  an  assistant, 
were  present.  All  social  excitement  was 
eliminated,  and  the  seriousness  and  quiet  of  the 
scientific  laboratory  were  maintained.  The  alco- 
hol was  administered  in  divided  doses,  and  was 
a  16  2-3%  solution  of  absolute  alcohol  and  dis- 
tilled water.  Six  doses  of  this  mixture,  100 
c.c.  in  each  dose,  were  prepared,  but  only  five 
were  given.  The  doses  were  administered  at 
2 :55,  3 :26,  4 :05,  4 :48,  and  5 :55  p.  M.  The  sixth 
dose  was  not  given  for  the  reason  that  the  sub- 
ject was  at  the  time  argumentative,  and  refused 
to  take  it.  Between  the  doses  various  experi- 
ments were  carried  on,  and  were  continued  until 
recovery  from  the  effects  of  the  alcohol  at  about 
9 :00  p.  M. 

The  earlier  series  of  tests  will  be  mentioned 
presently,  but  first  the  results  of  the  association 
test  (described  in  the  preceding  section)  will  be 
given.  This  was  carried  on  from  about  4:00 


THE  STATE  OF  INTOXICATION     109 


p.  M.  until  9 :00  P.M.,  somewhat  irregularly  owing 
to  the  difficulty  in  keeping  the  subject  at  work 
in  the  routine  which  was  previously  planned. 
Eecently  much  attention  has  been  given  to  the 
association  test  as  a  method  of  mental  diagnosis, 
and  it  has  been  used  for  various  purposes,  such 
as  the  analysis  of  mental  disorders,  determi- 
nation of  mental  type,  and  detection  of  crime. 
Below  is  given  the  complete  list  of  the  words  and 
the  reactions.  The  first  column  contains  the 
test  words ;  the  second  is  the  list  of  normal  re- 
actions, made  two  weeks  previous  to  the  day  of 
the  intoxication  experiment;  and  the  third 
column  contains  the  words  given  by  the  subject 
during  the  stages  of  intoxication. 

TABLE  SHOWING  EFFECT  OF  ALCOHOL  UPON  ASSOCIATIONS 


P 

window 

suffering 

mother 

vice 

girl 

non- conformity 

out  of  experience 

sober 

peace 

manner  of  walking 

good  behaviour 

failure 

sin 

jack-knife 

town 

message 

non-alcoholism 

H 


TEST    WORD 

NORMAL    REACTION 

1  name 

man 

2  glass 

crystal 

3  accident 

injury 

4  home 

mother 

5  virtue 

vice 

6  boy 

girl 

7  independent 

servility 

8   transcendental 

real 

9  drunk 

sober 

10   happiness 

contentment 

11   gate 

somebody  walking 

12  hall- 

G.    S  

13  manners 

good  breeding 

14  success 

failure 

15  salvation 

damnation 

16  iron 

screw 

17  city 

country 

18  telegraph 

message 

19  temperance 

moderation 

20  doctor 

patient 

110     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 


TEST    WORD 

NORMAL   REACTION 

REACTION    AFTER   ALCOHOL 

21  bottle 

whisky 

whisky 

22  cat 

dog 

dog 

23   cart 

wheel 

horse 

24  high 

low 

low 

25  paste 

adhesiveness 

mucilage 

26  tin 

pan 

rocks 

27  history 

poetry 

poetry 

28  summer 

winter 

winter 

29  horse 

rider  r 

rider 

30  key 

lock 

lock 

31   sickuess 

health 

health 

32  hope 

despair 

despair 

33  heaven 

earth 

earth 

34  box 

wood 

wood 

35  battery 

shock 

shock 

36  banner 

flag 

flag 

37  Spaniard 

Portuguese 

Cuban 

38  watch 

time 

clock 

39  pride 

haughtiness 

haughtiness 

40  window 

pane 

glass 

41   torpedo 

explosion 

boat 

42  widow 

funeral 

funeral 

43  jealousy 

quarrel 

anger 

44  post 

nail 

fence 

45  zylol 

preserving  fluid 

preserving  fluid 

46  girl 

boy 

boy 

47  carriage 

horse 

horse 

48  tissue 

strength 

cells 

49   emotion. 

feeling 

feeling 

50  conventionality 

formality 

formality 

51   varicosity 

enlargement 

enlargement 

52  justice 

equality 

mercy 

53  fear 

love 

anger 

54  experiment 

correctness 

reality 

55  favor 

help 

gratitude 

56  knife 

cutting 

whittling 

57  tin 

can 

rocks 

58  paper 

writing 

letter 

59  Renaissance 

bloodshed 

bloodshed 

60  table 

chair 

chair 

61   screw 

iron 

iron 

62  clock 

time 

time 

63  obedience 

love 

goodness 

64  instrument 

implement 

utility 

65  murder 

bloodshed 

bloodshed 

66  travel 

experience 

new  experience 

67  psychology 

experiment! 

experiments 

THE  STATE  OF  INTOXICATION     111 


TKST    WORD 

NORMAL   REACTION 

REACTION   AFTER  ALCOHOL 

68  strike 

catastrophy 

labor  union 

69  soul 

body 

body 

70  hunt 

game 

chase 

71  philosophy 

general  principles 

science  of  principles 

72   fish 

water 

animals 

73   mind 

matter 

matter 

74  shame 

honour 

honour 

75  joke 

fun 

play 

76  modesty 

cheek 

excellence 

77  parallelism 

psychology 

duality 

78  water 

hydrogen  and  oxy- 

air 

gen 

79  rat 

mouse 

mouse 

80  wood 

table 

fire 

81  listen 

hear 

hear 

82  Aristotle 

philosophy 

philosophical   empiricist 

83  activity 

passivity 

passivity 

84  banana 

fruit 

fruit 

85  moon 

light 

light 

86  chastity 

purity 

purity 

87  hole 

pin 

well 

88  sun 

light 

light 

89  moderation 

temperance 

temperance 

90  Plato 

Socrates 

Aristotle 

91  board 

plank 

fence 

92  mud 

disagreeable 

disagreeable 

93  planet 

Mars 

Mars 

94  pepper 

salt 

fiery 

95  scale 

weight 

justice 

96  see 

tide 

ship 

97  pain 

pleasure 

pleasure 

98  wire 

rope 

fence 

99  anger 

fear 

fear 

100  marvelous 

wonderful 

great,  wonderful 

101   charm 

attraction 

attraction 

102  nature 

art 

beauty 

103  man 

woman 

wisdom 

104  development 

growth 

evolution 

105  reason 

judgment 

judgment 

106  moral 

universal 

immorality 

107  French 

German 

German 

108  beauty 

pleasure 

ugliness 

109   air 

life 

water 

110  house 

stable 

home 

111  will 

activity 

power 

112  science 

knowledge 

classified  knowledge 

113  pen 

sword 

is  mightier  than  the  sword 

112     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 


TEST    WORD 


NORMAL   REACTION          EEACTION    AFTEE   ALCOHOL 


114  kind 

consciousness  of 

consciousness  of 

115  good 

evil 

bad  and  indifferent 

116  savage 

civilised 

barbarous 

117  true 

false 

false 

118  luck 

chance 

there  isn't  any 

119  love 

hate 

war 

120  



_____ 

121  whiskers 

breezes 

breezes 

122  game 

play 

sport 

123   deceit 

treachery 

lying 

124  pocket-book 

rocks 

blank  in  my  case 

125  insurance 

life 

safety 

126  stimulus 

exertion 

reaction 

127  scissors 

cutting 

cutting 

128  Goethe 

poetry 

poet 

129  brain 

mind 

anatomy,    psychological    re- 

action 

130  devil 

God 

God 

131  helpless 

just   helpless    (vis- 

helpful —  I'm  full,  too 

ual) 

132  alert 

active 

quick  at  reaction 

133  beautiful 

comely 

lovely 

134  diligent 

successful 

successful 

135  jail 

see  one 

shut  up  for  a  while 

136  paraffine 

wax 

protective 

137  injustice 

justice 

justice 

138   calculus 

mathematics 

mathematics 

139  weak 

strong 

go  where  you  please 

140  humanity 

inhumanity 

inhumanity 

141  animal 

man 

man 

142  pleasure 

pain 

good  as  far  as  it  goes 

143  wealth 

poverty 

influence 

144  economy 

meager-ness 

political  economy 

145  species 

genus 

genus,     genera,     that's     the 

plural,     now     don't     you 

see? 

146  nightingale 

music 

bird      that      comes      when 

spring  comes  on 

147  Bossetti 

Dante  Gabriel 

what    the    fellow    saw   when 

he      was      jimjams;      saw 

Rossetti  (on  a  jack-rabbit 

148  church 

preaching 

place  of  worship 

149  prince 

king 

Prince  of  Wales 

150  tobacco 

smoke 

smoke 

151  year 

1898 

twelve  months,  nothing  more 

152  muscle 

strength 

strength;  when  a  man  is  on 

his    muscle    folks   have   to 

look     out     for    him     (im- 

plied threat) 

153  flower 

leaf 

corn-meal 

THE  STATE  OF  INTOXICATION     113 


TEST   WORD 

154  American 

155  Dante 


156  chance 

157  old 

158  Quaker 

159  music 


160  righteousness 

161  incline 

162  horror 

163  blue 

164  discovery 

165  rope 

166  radical 

167  Romeo 

168  rabbi 

169  imagination 

170  kymograph 

171  sweet 

172  capacity 


173  cup 


174  art 


175  one 

17G  mind  cure 

177  electricity 


NORMAL   REACTION         REACTION    AFTER   ALCOHOL 


Spanish 
Inferno 


luck 


Beethoven 

unrighteousness 
to  slope 
fear 

blazes 

America 

halter 

conservative 

Juliet 
Ben  Levi 
phantasy 

record  curve 

sour 

extension,  measure 


glass 


science 


victory 
faith  cure 

shock 


Spanish 

Inferno.  Old  man  had  pret- 
ty good  ideas  of  things 
sometimes,  didn't  he! 

luck 

young 

Friend,  here's  the  gentle- 
man ;  preaches  on  war 

music  is  art — esthetics  ap- 
peal to  man's  highest 
nature 

thing  that  people  ought  to 
cultivate 

makes  me  think  of  the  slow 
pup 

kind  of  fear  that  makes  the 
hair  stand  on  end 

I'm  never  blue 

Columbus  made  a  big  one 

that's  the  thing  they  make 
those  peculiar  neckties  of 

if  you  want  to  be  brief,  con- 
servatism is  a  good  an- 
tithesis 

Juliet 

Jewish  priest 

that's  what  yoa  and  most 
scientists  don't  have 

that's  one  of  those  things 
that  makes  records 

O,  probably  certain  rooms 
adjacent  to  one  another 

that's  what  you  do  not  pos- 
sess, sir.  At  the  present 
time  I  don't  think  I  pos- 
sess a  great  deal  more 
to  hold  the  O  be  joyful 
you  administer  in  16^% 
doses 

that's  intoxicating  cup. 
Seems  to  me  I  get  a 
French  accent  on  these 

things.  P comes 

floating  into  my  head 
(he  was  right  about  the 
French  accent) 

O,  art  is  ze  most  beautiful 
expression  ze  human  soul 
aspires  to 

why,  two,  sir 

O  G is  the  apostle  of 

mind  cure 

produces  a  shock,  sir 


114     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 


TEST    WORD 

178  rapture 


179  suggestion 

180  reflection 

181  arms 


182  free 

183  imitation 

184  diary 

185  amused 


(6:15  P.M.) 

186  solitude 

187  netve 


188  drum 

189  piety 


NORMAL    REACTION 

extreme  pleasure 

reaction 

judgment 

man  waving  arms 


generous 
following  others 

daily  record 
just  the  word 


society 
cheek 


curve 
temperance 


190  disappointed 

191  resemblance 

192  jury 


regretful 

likeness 

judge 


REACTION    AFTER   ALCOHOL 

0,  that  was  exceeding  joy. 
But  if  you  wrapped  your- 
self round  with  a  horse 
blanket,  you  might  be  a 
jackass. 

connected  in  a  definite  way 
with  hypnotism 

is  the  thing  that  makes  a 
man  himself 

well,  if  you  were  a  poor 
man  benefactions  people 
give  you.  If  you  are  a 
rich  man  the  means  by 
which  you  are  enabled  to 
administer  to  your  phys- 
ical wants 

makes  a  man  independent 
of  any  restrictions 

simply  doing  as  other  peo- 
ple do  without  regarding 
the  primitive  impulse  to 
assert  himself  as  himself 

where  a  man  keeps  a  record 
of  things  as  they  occur 

I'm  amused  at  the  serious- 
ness with  which  you  take 
down  all  these  matters 
which  occur  after  split 
and  I  have  come  into  im- 
mediate contact 

there's  no  such  thing,  sir 

heard  a  good  many  people 
call  it  cheek.  You  would 
embody  a  higher  exempli- 
fication of  it  than  any- 
one I  know 

noise,  boys  like  that,  you 
know 

involves  so  much  a  man 
can't  express  it  briefly — 
heard  about  the  pious 
JEneas — careful  to  fulfil 
every  pious  duty — in  the 
highest  sense  makes  a 
man  true  to  every  prin- 
ciple that  moves  his  be- 
ing— the  highest  instinct 

something  I  never  was 

likeness 

is  supposed  to  stand  for 
justice — a  body  of  men 
at  the  mercy  of  one  who 
can  make  the  best  soul- 
touching  argument 


THE  STATE  OF  INTOXICATION     115 


TEST    WORD 

NORMAL   REACTION 

REACTION    AFTER   ALCOHOL 

198  error 

•wrong 

that's      the      thing      which 

every    human    being    who 

ever    lived    made    to    his 

regret 

194  culture 

civilisation 

the  thing  that  all  humanity 

ought  to  aspire  to.     It  is 

the  best  in  us 

195  congregation 

collection  of  people 

nothing   but   a   collection  of 

individuals  —  you       know 

what  grex  means 

196  study 

pleasure 

pleasure 

197  moral 

immoral 

worth 

198  adolescence 

youth 

youth 

199  child 

man 

man 

200  foot 

walking 

yard 

201  education 

growth 

desirable  thing 

202  eat 

sleep 

grow 

203  God 

no  association 

man 

204  teaching 

education 

the  best  thing  in  the  world 

for  a  man 

205  adult 

man 

childhood 

206  conclusion 

fallacious 

the  result  of  effort 

207  report 

record 

may  be  public  opinion 

208  bibliography 

collection  of  names 

one     of     the     most     helpful 

things   in   the   world 

209  drink 

water 

a  curse 

210  help 

aid 

strength 

211  literature 

American 

think    of    all    the    different 

schools 

212  life 

indefinable 

death 

213  danger 

fear 

safety 

214  book 

slate 

parchment 

215  exactly 

correctly 

inexactly 

216  author 

J.  R.  Lowell 

work 

217  accidentally 

unforeseen 

providentially 

218  Worcester 

Massachusetts 

Massachusetts 

219  people 

humanity 

collection  of  individuals 

220  example 

precept 

precept 

221  heart 

ventricles 

life 

222  precept 

example 

example 

223  paper 

pen 

pen   and   ink 

224  pain 

pleasure 

pleasure 

225  school 

study 

life 

226  journal 

daily  record 

daily  record 

227  educator 

: 

our       old       dominie.       You 

know      the      derivation, 

dominus      master,      some- 

times    talks    through    his 

hat,       sometimes       grinds 

£;ople,  but  he's  the  man 

r  the  people  after  all 

116     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 


TEST    WORD 

228  youth 

229  ball 

230  editorial 

231  friend 
*     232   ink 

233  seminary 

234  ache' 
/     235  pencil 

236  manhood 

237  beer 

238  heredity 

239  discussion 

240  frost 

241  hour 

242  health 

243  year 

244  promise 

245  fence 

246  interest 

247  disease 

248  weight 

249  answer 

250  apperception 

251  gold 

252  insanity 

253  pie 

254  liberty 

255  squash 

256  picture 

257  saint 

258  Klondike 

259  seven 


NORMAL  REACTION    REACTION  AFTER  ALCOHOL 


age 
play 

comment  upon  top- 
ics of  the  day 
enemy 

pen 

seed  sowing 

pain 
paper 

womanhood 
two  per  cent. 

education 
argument 

cold 

sixty  minutes 

happiness 

twelve  months 

agreement 

post 
pleasant 

weakness 

avoirdupois 

message 

an  after  perception 

silver 

madness 

cake 

freedom 
pumpkin 

art 

Anthony 

misery 

eight 


age 

baseball 

supposed  to  be  an  expres- 
sion of  sound  judgment 

one  of  the  best  things  a 
human  being  can  have 

sometimes  a  blot,  some- 
times a  potent  saying 

place  for  the  sowing  of 
seed — of  course  I  think 
of  the  Friday  nights 

functional  derangement 

pen 

main  thing  to  live  for 

don't  know  what  it  was 
made  for — guess  it  means 
b-i-e-r  in  the  end 

what  no  man  can  avoid, 
and  the  pity  of  human 
conditions 

sometimes  a  fair  considera- 
tion, sometimes  sophis- 
tical word-play 

increased  cold 

sixty  minutes 

sickness 

1898 

something  that  ought  to  be 
kept 

something  that  shuts  in, 
and  also  shuts  out 

the  one  thing  that  makes 
life  worth  living 

health 

gravitation 

question 

an  after  perception 

silver 

sanity 

thing  that  boys  cry  for,  and 
printers  sigh  for 

the  only  thing  that  enables 
a  man  to  be  a  man 

have  to  think  of  the  vine 
family — pumpkin 

madonna 

Anthony 

a  foolish  craze — a  kind  of 
insanity 

eight 


THE  STATE  OF  INTOXICATION     117 


TEST    WORD 

260  Boston 


NORMAL    REACTION 

Massachusetts 


261  Sabbath 

262  newspaper 

263  dictionary 

264  sheet 

265  eyes 

266  appetite 

267  case 

268  brother 

269  question 

270  stopple 


271  sweet 

272  neurosis 

273  

274  activity 

275  curtain 

276  face 

277  populist 


278  change 

279  climate 

280  yellow 

281  physician 
(7:40   P.M.) 

282  square 

283  look 


Jew 
reporter 

Century 

paper 
sight 

tendency    to    seek 

hard  case 
sister 
answer 
bottle 


sour 

psychosis 

passivity 
shield 
eyes 
politician 


instability 

hot 

blue 

health 

round 
expression 


REACTION  AFTER  ALCOHOL 

Commonwealth  of  Massa- 
chusetts, the  United 
States  of  America — the 
place  that  grew  into 
prominence  some  years 
ago  and  in  its  own  esti- 
mation has  always  been 
important  since  —  sup 
posed  to  be  connected 
with  the  revolutionary 
apparatus  of  the  uuiverse 

day  of  rest 

one  of  the  things  the  Amer 
icau  people  have  to  be 
ashamed  of 

the  guiding  star  of  the 
common  people 

sheet  of  paper 

organs  of  the  highest  sense 
a  man  possesses 

what  a  drunkard  has,  but  I 
haven't — thank  the  Lord 
for  that 

hard  case 

sister 

answer 

why  can't  you  use  the 
United  States  term  and 
say  "stopper"  ?  Why 
just  a  stopper,  that's  all 

suite — series  of  rooms,  op- 
posite of  sour — what  you 
call  your  lady 

psychosis 


passivity 

exclusion  of  light 

back 

kind  of  specimen  of  ani- 
mated whiskers — runs  to 
hair  more  than  to  brains 
— one  of  these  old  breez- 
ers 

one  of  these  things  which 
put  permanence  into  dif- 
ficulty with  reality 

hot 

blue 

patient 


round 

expression     (illustrated    by 
story) 


118     PSYCHOLOGY,  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 


TEST    WORD 

NORMAL   REACTION 

REACTION   AFTER   ALCOHOL 

284  ecstasy 

extreme  delight 

place    folks    get    into    just 

this  side  the  trance  stage 

285  chin 

Sam 

Sam,  of  course 

286  type 

representative  of  a 

pi 

collection 

287  cheek 

disagreeable    qual- 
ity 

distinguishing       characteris- 
tic of  a  gentleman  named 

P  

288  German 

French 

German,  Frenchman 

289   long 

short 

short 

290  nose 

mouth 

a  smeller 

291  frank 

ingenuous 

honest,     ingenuous,     candid, 

open  what  we  like  to  see 

292  rubber 

elasticity 

dam,  sir  —  the  dentist  would 

say 

293  determination      will 

pretty  long  word,  but  means 
will  to  succeed  or  do 

294  arm 

hand 

why  an  arm  is  just  an  arm, 

that's    all  —  a    member    of 

the      body      (mind     wan- 

dered) 

295  voice 

song 

why  voice,   inseparably  con- 

nected with  speech 

296  age 

youth 

haven't   you  a  dictionary  — 

lend    you    one  —  can't    af- 

ford to  be  a  hog  about  it 

(Interruption,   subject   argumentative) 

297  camera 

picture 

photographer 

298  male 

female 

female 

299  carpet 

beater 

tack 

300  vocal 

instrumental 

instrumental 

301  dream 

sleep 

vision 

802  rebellion 

Civil  War 

Civil  War 

303   onion 

leek 

garlic  and  Frenchmen 

304  nervous 

lacking    control 

prostration 

305  strength 

weakness 

power 

806  touch 

taste 

taste 

307  organ 

choir 

function 

808  ideal 

real 

real 

809  song 

dance 

dance 

810  silver 

hemlock 

hemlock 

811  silence 

gold 

gold 

812  typical 

generally   illustrat- 

generic representation 

ing 

813  shudder 

tremor 

vibration 

814  overcoat 

outside  garment 

waistcoat 

815  emotion 

feeling 

feeling 

816  real  estate 

personal  property 

personal  property 

THE  STATE  OF  INTOXICATION     119 


TEST    WORD 

NORMAL   REACTION 

REACTION    AFTER   ALCOHOL 

817  leg 

arm 

leg     of     mountain  —  legos  —  • 
George     Meredith     de- 
scribes in  his   "Egoist" 

818  sister 

brother 

brother 

319  feeling 

will 

will 

820  blue 

red 

green 

821   training 

exercise 

discipline 

822  photograph 

picture 

likeness 

823  female 

male 

male 

324  timid 

shrinking 

daring 

825  silver 

gold 

gold 

326  longing 

wishing 

unrest 

327  story 

poem 

diversion 

328  preparation 

getting  ready 

lack  of  preparation 

329  offering 

gift 

gift 

330  expression 

phrase 

phrase 

331  fame 

knowledge 

notoriety 

332  authority 

past  judgment 

individual  statement 

333  speech 

voice 

silence 

834  family 

father 

foundation  of  state  and  na- 

tion 

335  wine 

beer 

beer 

336  excellence 

goodness 

worth 

337  passion 

action 

action 

338  existence 

life 

life 

339  equality 

justice 

justice 

340  noble 

ignoble 

excellent 

341  infinity 

zero 

unlimited 

342   conquest 

of  Mexico 

of  Mexico 

343  generous 

free 

liberal 

344  altruism 

egoism 

egoism 

345  pledge 

temperance 

temperance 

346  denial 

affirmation 

negation 

347  revival 

awakening 

religious 

348  inertia 

velocity 

rest 

349  liquor 

alcoholic 

split 

350  Persian 

Modes 

Arabian 

351  wreck 

Hesperus 

danger 

352  reform 

making  over 

I'm  going  to 

353   society 

grex 

individuals 

354  blaze 

fire 

fire 

355  home 

mother 

sweet  home 

356  ambition 

earnest  action 

Napoleon 

357  being 

existence 

not  being 

358  club 

social 

social 

359  immortality 

immortality 

immortality 

860  flame 

fire 

fire 

120     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 


TEST    WORD  NORMAL    REACTION 

361  courage  will 


REACTION    AFTER   ALCOHOIi 

the  will  to  do  the  thing  that 
must  be  done 


362  stubbornness 

heart  within 

compliance 

363  causality 

obstinacy 

effectuality 

364  motive 

actuating  impulse 

reason  for  doing  things 

365   Sunday  School 

Bible  Study 

day  school 

366  criminal 

moral 

good  citizen 

367  virtue 

vice 

vice 

368  rivalry 

competition 

competition 

369   luxury 

abundance 

ease. 

370  temptation 

yielding 

strength 

371  right 

wrong 

wrong 

372  control 

self-direction 

lack  of  control 

373   loss 

gain 

gain 

374  enmity 

opposition 

hate 

375  prayer 

praise 

praise 

376  fever 

heat 

delirium 

377  confession 

acknowledgment 

faith 

378  fluctuation 

variation 

steadfastness 

879  duty 

compulsion 

obligation 

380  soul 

body 

body 

381  wickedness 

sin 

sin 

382  restlessness 

rest 

rest 

383  anxiety 

worriment 

struggle 

384  penance 

atonement 

atonement 

385  strike 

bloodshed 

bloodshed 

386  fire 

smoke 

smoke 

387  absolute 

utterly  free 

unconditioned 

388  space 

time 

time 

389  fireside 

revery 

home 

390  wrong 

right 

right 

391  insult 

injury 

injury 

The  course  which  feeling  ran  during  the  in- 
toxication in  this  case,  and  in  general  the 
changes  made  in  the  mind,  can  easily  be  seen 
in  the  reactions.  A  stage  of  exaltation  was  fol- 
lowed by  one  of  seriousness  and  depression, 
and  this  by  a  return  to  the  normal  condition. 
But  within  this  general  movement  were  several 
minor  currents.  During  the  stage  of  depression 
there  were  short  periods  of  return  of  the  excite- 


THE  STATE  OF  INTOXICATION     121 

ment,  on  a  lower  plane;  when  the  reactions 
showed  a  mixture  of  humour  and  pathos,  and 
the  mind  wandered.  During  the  first  period  of 
exaltation  there  was  evidently  a  conscious  effort^ 
to  be  humorous,  and  to  be  patronising  to  experi- 
menter and  assistant;  and  this  exaltation  of 
self-feeling  is  further  shown  by  the  increasing 
obstinacy  of  the  subject,  his  confidence  in  his 
ability  to  do  the  experiments  correctly  without 
instructions,  and  his  negligence  of  precautions  \ 
usually  taken  in  experiment,  and  well  known  by 
him. 

This  first  period  of  obstinacy  went  with  a 
mood  of  good  feeling  and  exaggerated  person- 
ality sense ;  a  later  period  of  argumentativeness 
had  a  note  of  depression  p#d  irritation.  What 
the  physiological  basis  ^iRiese  changes  in  feel- 
ing may  be,  one  woirf&pot  attempt  to  say  with 
confidence.  Probably*tk£  earlier  doses  caused 
excitement  and  then  depression ;  the  later  doses 
temporarily  reinstated  the  excitement,  but  in  a 
different  form.  iThe  associative  processes  had 
been  disintegrated,  and  stimulus  spread  with 
great  readiness  from  one  associative  group  to 
another. 

The  results  of  some  of  the  experimental 
methods  applied  during  the  intoxication  in  this 
case  will  show  other  facts  about  the  course  of 
the  mental  changes,  especially  during  the  early 
stages.  The  method  of  work  was  as  follows: 


122     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

After  each  dose  of  the  alcohol  the  subject  was 
put  through  a  series  of  experiments,  including 
tests  for  rapidity  of  movement,  adding,  memory 
for  digits,  strength  of  hand-clasp,  estimation  of 
time  and  distance,  control  of  the  reflex  wink. 
The  pulse  rate  was  also  taken  during  each 
period. 

Even  after  the  association  tests  showed  much 
change  in  the  character  of  feeling,  the  ability 
to  make  rapid_movements  was  not  greatly  dis- 
turbed. On  the  normaTtfay  on  which  this  abili- 
ity  was  tested  the  records  were  234,  227,  222— 
the  rate  for  one  minute.  On  the  alcohol  day, 
the  records  taken  were  213,  201,  175,  171,  165, 
176. 

In  estimating  the  length  of  a  minute,  by  an- 
nouncing, after  a  signal  had  been  rung  for 
starting,  when  he  thought  a  minute  had  expired, 
the  subject  made  the  ^nte^aj_muchjongerj)n 
the  whole  on  the  alcohoT3ay.  The  normal  rec- 
^r3s"  were,  43.4  sec.,  33.0,  54.6,  41.4,  45.0— and 
on  the  alcohol  day,  66.4,  75.6,  53.0,  43.4,  51.6, 
61.4,  65.0,  65.0,  61.0,  58.0,  58.0.  The  last  three 
were  taken  at  6:30  p.  M.,  at  a  time  when  the  as- 
sociations show  that  the  mental  state  was  one 
of  depressed  feeling. 

Ability  to  add,  tested  through  the  first  five 
periods  of  the  experiment,  shows  little  deterio- 
ration. The  normal  records  were  130,  192,  and 
196,  to  be  compared  with  150, 160, 156, 165, 141, 


THE  STATE  OF  INTOXICATION     123 

and  178  on  the  alcohol  day.  We  need  to  be  re- 
minded, however,  that  such  a  process  as  adding 
is  very  complicated,  and  though  the  records 
may  show  little  change,  much  change  may  have 
been  going  on  in  the  manner  in  which  the  work 
was  done.  Eapidity  depends  in  part  upon  wil- 
lingness to  take  chances  of  error,  and  this  would 
counteract  to  some  extent  depression  of  the 
physiological  processes  concerned  in  the  activ- 
ity. 

In  the  test  upon  control  of  the  reflex  wink,  a 
very  great  difference  was  observed,  in  this  sub- 
ject, on  comparing  normal  and  alcohol  records. 
On  the  normal  day  there  was  much  trouble  in 
controlling  the  reflex.  In  the  first  twenty-five 
trials,  but  five  were  controlled;  and  in  the  sec- 
ond series,  fifteen.  On  the  alcohol  day,  in  the 
first  series  of  trials,  all  but  the  first  and  the 
seventh  were  controlled,  and  during  all  the 
other  tests  throughout  the  whole  series  there 
was  no  tendency  whatever  to  wink.  At  7:05 
p.  M.,  when  muscular  co-ordination  was  much  in- 
terfered with,  a  series  of  tests  of  the  wink- 
ing reflex  was  made,  and  control  was  perfect. 
The  subject  in  retrospect  said  his  feeling  was 
one  of  indifference.  He  knew  the  glass  was 
thick  enough  to  keep  the  hammer  from  breaking 
through,  and  so  he  gave  the  experiment  no 
thought.  The  same  indifference  was  shown  for 
a  long  period  to  all  the  experiments.  When 


124     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

the  obstinacy  of  the  subject  made  the  control 
of  the  conditions  difficult,  and  he  was  told  that 
unless  he  were  more  careful  he  would  spoil 
our  records,  he  replied  that  that  was  no  concern 
of  his.  His^jattitude  was  then  that  of  one  who 
tries  to  tease  and  annoy  by  obstinacy. 

The  pulse  rate,  whenever  taken  during  the 
intoxication,  showed  a  rate  in  excess  of  the 
normal.  Three  countings  on  normal  days  gave 
77,  77,  and  78.  At  intervals  from  3:00  P.M. 
to  6 :30  p.  M.  on  the  intoxication  day  the  rate 
was  taken  with  these  results— 92,  87,  90,  86,  92, 
93.  The  last-mentioned  record  was  taken  ai 
6 :30  during  a  time  of  physiological  depression. 
At  7 :30  p.  M.  the  pulse  still  stood  at  88. 

A  few  notes  of  many  taken  during  the  course 
of  the  experiment,  or  later  from  restrospection 
of  the  subject  will  show  something  of  his  atti- 
tude toward  the  condition. 

3:26  P.M.  The  subject  reported  that  he  did  not  notice  the 
burning  sensation  so  much  in  taking  the  second  dose,  as  he 
did  in  the  first;  showing  somejiimiimtion  j)£Lsensjbility. 

4:00  P.M.  During  the  third  round  the  subject  was  con- 
scious in  the  tapping  experiment  of  putting  on  more  power 
than  in  the  preceding  rounds,  and  of  a  slower  movement. 
This  was  true,  and  as  the  experiment  progressed,  the  move- 
ment was  changed  from  a  precise  finger  and  wrist  movement 
to  a  movement  of  the  whole  body. 

4:00  P.M.  Muscle  sensations  seemed  much  changed.  The 
subject  lifted  a  chair  and  was  surprised  to  find  it  so  light,  and 
a  little  later  a  stool,  and  was  surprised  to  find  it  so  heavy. 

4:20  P.M.     Complained  of  many  body  sensations.     Felt  as 


THE  STATE  OF  INTOXICATION     125 

though  the  body  were  long  and  the  leys  short.  The  neck  felt 
less  sensitive  when  touched  by  the  fingers.  The  subject  was 
conscious  of  a  peculiar  feeling  in  the  legs  as  though  they 
wished  to  straighten  out  rigid  and  firm,  and  to  swing  like 
pendulums  from  the  hip  instead  of  bending  at  the  knee.  If 
the  eyes  were  closed  there  was  a  feeling  of  dizziness.  The 
subject-Was  conscious  of  a  tendency  to  repeat  phrases. 

4:48  P.  M.  Beginning  of  the  fourth  round.  The  subject 
complained  of  a  feeling  of  numbness.  He  could  not  taste 
the  alcohol  at  all  this  time.  When  he  .wiped  his  mouth 
he  ^id  not  feel  it.  In  the  dynamometer  test  he  tried  to 
change  to  the  left  hand  at  the  sixth  pull.  He  showed  signs 
of  fatigue  during  the  adding,  and  complained  that  everything 
felt  gone  from  him.  He  began  to  show  lack  of  interest  in  the 
experiments.  When  he  finished  the  memory  tests,  he  said, 
"Got  in  an  extra  one,  but  never  mind."  Instead  of  putting 
down  the  nine  which  were  read  to  him,  he  had  recorded  ten, 
a  gross  error  in  a  simple  memory  test. 

6:30  P.M.  The  subject  said  that  everything  looked  distant, 
but  he  thought  he  could  estimate  distance  correctly.  He 
tried,  and  did.  Everything  looked  topsy-turvy  to  him,  but 
he  was  not  dizzy. 

6:40  P.M.  The  subject  said  that  he  felt  paralysed.  A  mo- 
ment later  he  complained  that  the  world  seemed  all  shut  in; 
that  there  was  no  light  outside  the  room.  There  was  a  pe- 
culiar kind  of  contentment;  he  was  perfectly  content  to  sit 
still. 

"6:45  P.M.  The  subject  tried  to  walk,  and  thought  he  could 
"do  better  at  a  waltz."  He  tried  it.  About  this  time  he 
complained  that  when  sitting  he  felt  a  tendency  to  plunge 
forward  as  though  "everything  were  in  the  head." 

6:55.  The  subject  complained  that  he  cared  for  nothing, 
whether  he  were  dead  or  alive — heaven  or  hell,  happiness 
or  misery  were  all  the  same  to  him. 

7:50  P.M.  The  subject  said  he  felt  all  right,  so  far  as  he 
felt  anything.  He  felt  as  though  he  had  been  asleep.  He  was 
conscious  that  he  had  been  talking  wrong,  pronouncing  every- 
thing in  the  easiest  way. 

7:50  P.M.     The  subject  said  that  his  words  still  sounded 


126     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

different  to  him*  both  in  expression  and  in  tone,  from  the  nor- 
mal. He  said  that  now  in  looking  back  he  could  see  that 
concentration  of  his  attention  upon  a  motor  task  had  had  an 
effect  of  bringing  consciousness  together  and  clearing  it. 

7:55  P.  M.  The  subject  seemed  quite  sober.  He  still  walked 
with  slight  inco-ordination.  He  guessed  the  time  of  day  cor- 
rectly. He  complained  still  of  a  numbness  all  over,  as 
though  he  were  not  a  living  organism.  Since  the  last  dose  the 
time  had  seemed  very  short,  as  though  sometime  in  the  past 
he  had  been  shut  up  like  a  book.  He  remembered  that  he 
had  passed  through  a  compliant  stage,  and  an  argumentative 
stage. 

8:30  P.M.  The  subject  said  that  since  the  beginning  of 
the  fifth  round  everything  seemed  a  blank.  The  world  seemed 
email  and  shut  in.  He  still  felt  a  desire  to  look  into  a  mirror 
to  see  whether  he  were  really  swaying  in  sitting  upright,  or 
whether  this  were  merely  a  sensation.  It  was  mostly  sub- 
jective. 

These  facts  about  the  effect  of  alcohol  and 
other  stimulant-narcotics  suggest  some  conclu- 
sions that  seem  quite  secure,  and  they  also  open 
up  tantalising  problems  of  physiology  and  psy- 
chology upon  which  at  present  scarcely  more 
than  conjecture  may  be  offered.  The  evidence, 
though  not  entirely  without  contradiction  at 
some  points,  or  at  least  not  without  allowance 
for  individual  differences,  seems  to  warrant 
the  assertion  that  all  these  stimulants  and  nar- 
cotics, in  intoxicating  as  in  small  doses,  excite 
for  a  short  period,  and  then  depress  or  paralyse, 
the  functions  or  activities  of  whatever  nervous 
Jtissue  they  affect.  In  some  cases  the  period  of 
excitation  may  be  brief  or  obscure,  but  the 


THE  STATE  OF  INTOXICATION     127 

typical  mode  of  action  of  these  drugs  is  at  first 
to  arouse  activity. 

A  second  quite  obvious  conclusion  is  that 
nervous  mechanisms  or  tissues  are  not  all 
equally  affected  by  stimulant-narcotics.  They 
are  affected  progressively,  one  function  after 
another  being  reached.  A  quantity  sufficient  to 
paralyse  completely  one  function  will  leave 
others  quite  intact ;  or  will  affect  them,  if  at  all, 
only  much  later.  A  state  or  course  of  intoxi- 
cation, therefore,  is  always  a  progressive  stimu- 
lation and  narcotising  of  tissues,  some  being 
in  one  state,  some  in  another.  If  we  may 
speculate  about  the  brain  states  that  accom- 
pany the  mental  changes,  we  may  say  that  a 
wave  of  stimulation  and  narcotising  spreads 
over  the  tissues  from  one  part  to  another,  or  / 
more  probably,  acts  selectively  among  co-ordi-  j 
nated  groups  of  neurons,  at  first  exciting,  then 
depressing  whatever  it  affects. 

This  simple  statement,  however,  does  not  en- 
tirely explain  the  changes  that  occur  in  intoxi- 
cation. The  nervous  system  is  an  organism  of 
balanced  parts,  one  serving  the  purpose  of  hold- 
ing another  in  check.  When  the  higher  fun^ 
tion  becomes  paralysed  the  lower  which  de- 
pends upon  it  for  control  is  quite  certainly  re- 
leased from  control,  and  quite  independently  of 
stimulating  effects  of  the  drug  upon  it,  may 
function  excessively  or  respond  to  stimulus  that 


128     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

in  a  normal  condition  would  not  arouse  it  at  all. 
Increase  of  excitement  in  a  part  may  also  have 
the  effect  of  drawing  stimulus  from  and  in- 
hibiting other  parts.* 

There  is  a  theory  that  the  nervous  functions 
are  affected  by  alcohol  in  an  order  which  is 
the  reverse  of  their  acquirement  by  the  indi- 
vidual and  by  the  race.  The  evidence  from  our 
own  cases  partly  confirms  this  view,  especially 
so  far  as  it  relates  to  large  motor  functions. 
Kibot  (57)  states  the  view  somewhat  like  this: 
At  first  there  is  an  excitement  in  which  reflec- 
tion is  diminished,  a  condition  in  which,  appar- 
ently, the  highest  brain  centers  connected  with 
thought  are  depressed  or  paralysed.  Close  at- 
tention, which  is  an  effect  of  nice  motor  con- 
vergence, can  no  longer  be  maintained.  Next 
the  control  of  the  tongue  is  lost ;  a  man  talks  at 
random,  and  will  tell  all  his  secrets,  showing 
that  now  all  the  higher  inhibitions  have  disap- 
peared. After  this  he  becomes  incapable  of 
any  continued  plan  of  action.  Then  the  will, 
under  even  its  lowest  and  most  impulsive  form, 

*  Starke's  conclusion  is  interesting  in  this  connection.  He 
maintains  that  alcohol  has  a  specific  effect  in  making  the  cen- 
tral nervous  system  anaemic  and  the  skin  plethoric,  and  in 
arousing  the  sympathetic  nervous  system.  This  is  the  phys- 
ical aspect  of  an  effect  which  on  the  mental  side  appears  as  a 
stimulation  of  our  personal,  intimate  ego.  The  external  world 
is  dulled,  and  the  internal  world  aroused,  by  a  redistribution 
of  energies  in  the  nervous  system,  not  by  a  paralysis  of  any 
function. 


THE  STATE  OF  INTOXICATION     129 

becomes  powerless.  Then  the  most  delicate 
voluntary  movements,  those  of  speech  and 
hand,  cease  to  be  properly  co-ordinated.  One 
degree  lower,  and  he  loses  the  semi-automatic 
movements,  those  of  walking.  Then  muscular 
tonicity  weakens.  The  man  falls  from  his  seat. 
Then  reflex  movements  are  abolished.  Finally 
there  is  a  cessation  of  automatic  movements — 
those  of  respiration  and  of  the  heart.  Eibot, 
of  course,  is  describing  a  profound  degree  of 
alcohol  poisoning. 

Though  our  own  experiments  seem  to  indi- 
cate that  in  a  general  way  this  course  of  events 
takes  place  in  intoxication,  the  suspicion  re- 
mains that  the  process  is  not  quite  so  sche- 
matic and  simple  as  this  description  indicates. 
Some  later  acquired  functions  seem  to  be  tena- 
cious, and  are  not  affected  until  there  is  a 
marked  effect  upon  some  apparently  lower  cen- 
tres. And  it  seems  that  the  effect  of  alcohol  is 
selective  among  functions ;  as  though,  aside  from 
the  wave  of  paralysis  which  descends  the  levels 
of  the  nervous  system,  certain  mechanisms  were 
especially  affected,  and  the  effect  upon  these 
were  the  core,  so  to  speak,  of  the  intoxication.  ^ 

This  change  that  seems  to  be  the  core  of  the 
state  of  intoxication,  however  it  is  caused,  is 
the  change  in  the  states  of  pleasure  or  displeas- 
ure— in  the  sense  of  well-  or  ill-being  of  the  in- 
dividual. Precisely  what  the  physiological 


130     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

basis  of  this  change  is,  is  not  clear.  In  fact, 
the  physiology  of  pleasure  and  displeasure,  and 
even  the  psychological  nature  of  these  states, 
is  so  much  a  matter  of  conjecture  at  the 
present  time  that  perhaps  it  would  be  futile 
to  discuss  how  they  are  affected  by  alcohol: 
whether  alcohol  arouses  certain  thoughts  or 
attitudes  of  mind  which  in  turn  give  pleasure, 
or  whether  something  which  may  be  called  a 
mechanism  of  pleasure  is  directly  stimulated— 
or  whether  the  course  of  stimulation  of  brain 
centres  is  itself  the  basis  of  the  change  of  feel- 
ing.* But  it  seems  as  though  some  definite 
mechanisms  of  the  nervous  system  must  be  se- 
lectively influenced  by  the  alcohol,  and  that  thus, 
by  mechanical  means,  the  states  of  pleasure, 

*  Sajous  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  in  the  phenomena 
of  alcoholism  we  have  a  manifestation  similar  to  those  pro- 
duced by  many  poisons  ( the  exaltation  of  mental  faculties  and 
increase  in  the  sensation  of  well-being)  and  that  these  are 
like  the  effects  of  drugs  that  stimulate  the  adrenal  system. 
(The  adrenal  system,  in  Sajous'  view,  consists  of  the  thyroid, 
the  pituitary  body,  and  the  adrenals,  connected  through  the 
sympathetic  ganglia  and  the  splanchnic  nerves.)  The  adrenal 
secretion  is  the  agency  which,  in  the  pulmonary  air-cells, 
takes  up  the  oxygen  of  the  air,  and  which  as  a  constituent  of 
the  haemoglobin  of  the  red  corpuscles  of  the  blood  and  of  the 
plasma,  carries  this  gas  to  all  parts  of  the  organism.  Until 
we  know  more  about  such  involved  problems  of  secretion,  and 
about  the  function  of  various  products  of  the  more  obscure 
systems  of  the  body,  we  shall  not  be  able  to  give  very  definite 
and  complete  answers  to  physiological  problems  concerned  in 
such  intoxications  as  the  alcoholic. 


THE  STATE  OF  INTOXICATION     131 

and  finally  of  displeasure  are  artificially  pro- 
duced. Accompanying  the  first  Stages,  or 
constituting  them,  are  increased  activity  of  the 
heart,  increased  flow  of  thought  and  feel- 
ings, a  sense  of  ease  of  activity.  But 
the  widened  range  of  emotion  is  the  central 
change.  Feeling  increases  and  becomes  domi- 
nant in  the  mental  state;  there  is  a  sense  of 
abundance  of  life,  the  mental  horizon  appears 
to  be  widened,  and  the  intoxicated  person  en- 
joys a  sense  of  expansion  of  the  personality, 
which  is  none  the  less  real  to  him  because  in 
most  ways  mental  powers  are  not  increased,  but  v// 
are  actually  diminished.  The  sense  of  person- 
ality is  enlarged  under  the  influence  of  an  ex- 
pansive feeling,  and  at  the  same  time  limita- 
tions based  upon  inhibitions  of  conduct  and 
feeling  are  broken  down.  The  more  individual 
thoughts  and  adjustments  are  removed,  and  the 
more  general  or  more  social  feelings  and 
thoughts  are  increased.  At  the  height  of  the 
stage  of  pleasure,  the  individual  feels  both  his 
own  personality,  and  his  area  of  social  contact 
widened.  Memory  is  stimulated,  and  unused 
parts  of  the  mind  are  brought  into  action.  For 
a  moment  the  individual  has  transcended  his 
limited  individuality,  and  has  looked,  as  it 
seems  to  him,  into  a  larger  world.  He  has  be- 
come a  larger  self,  and  life  is  richer  in  meaning. 
This,  it  seems,  this  moment  of  breaking  down 


132     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

of  the  limitation  of  the  individual,  which  each 
of  the  subjects  of  the  experiment  felt  as  a 
moment  when  all  control  might  be  thrown  aside, 
is  the  state  which  is  especially  craved  by  the 
drunkar.d.  Did  such  an  outlook  but  really  lead 
on  to  higher  enthusiasms,  and  to  those  efforts 
and  activities  which  do  enlarge  the  outlook  upon 
life,  and  give  it  richer  meaning,  we  should  be 
obliged  to  say  that  the  function  of  alcohol  is 
explained  and  justified.  That  these  states  did 
actually  in  the  past  stimulate  thought  and 
ideals;  that  alcohol  once  aroused  social  activi- 
ties and  enthusiasms  and  played  a  part  in  nor- 
mal life  can  hardly  be  questioned.  What  the 
relation  of  such  desires  is  to  present  ideals  and 
experiences  lies  before  us  as  the  most  im- 
portant practical  question  of  our  study.  The 
love  of  alcohol  is  essentially  a  love  of  life — a 
craving  for  a  life  more  abundant.  However 
inadequate  and  futile  the  means  chosen  to  se- 
cure this  larger  meaning  of  life  may  be  now, 
we  may  assert  that  a  normal  motive  lies  at  the 
heart  of  it.  How  this  normal  motive  may  be 
satisfied;  how  the  recreational  life,  the  social 
life,  and  the  work  of  the  individual  may  be 
made  to  satisfy  it,  we  can  easily  foresee,  is  the 
practical  problem  of  the  intoxication  impulse, 
if  the  analysis  up  to  this  point  has  been  correct. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

A  STUDY  OF  ABNORMAL  CASES 

NATURE  has  provided  many  opportunities  for 
studying  normal  traits  of  the  human  mind  in 
'an  enlarged  or  distorted  form.  In  the  abnor- 
Jmal  mind  normal  cravings  and  activities  which 
should  have  become  controlled  and  organised 
are  seen  uncontrolled  and  distorted.  Some- 
times in  the  abnormal  mind,  one  impulse  comes 
to  stand  for  and  dominate  the  individual.  It 
is  enlarged,  and  out  of  relation  and  proportion 
to  all  the  other  impulses,  and  perverts  the  whole 
life.  But  such  cases  are  not  anomalies,  pro- 
duced by  laws  different  from  those  according 
to  which  normal  individuals  are  produced. 
They  must  be  studied  in  relation  to  the  normal 
at  every  point ;  and  it  is  only  by  seeing  the  re- 
lation between  the  normal  and  the  abnormal 
trait  that  the  abnormal  can  be  said  to  be  under- 
stood at  all. 

A  study  of  various  classifications  of  drinkers 
discloses  the  fact  that  there  are  two  general 
types  of  organisation  which  predispose  to  ex- 
cessive drinking,  i  One  is  the  undeveloped  type 
of  organism:  intellectually  and  morally,  per- 

133 


S 


134     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

haps  physically,  of  a  low  order.  Such  are 
never  able  to  transform  lower  enthusiasms  into 
higher,  and  they  always  live  on  a  low  plane. 
They  lack  self-direction  and  purpose.  They 
live  in  the  midst  of  a  civilisation  which  is  too 
refined  in  type  for  them  to  imitate. 

The  second  is  the  degenerate.  People  of  this 
type  commonly  possess  qualities  which  go  with 
culture  and  high  ideals,  but  they  lack  balance. 
To  this  class  belong  many  people  whose  nervous 
systems  are  so  constructed  that  they  cannot  con- 
trol impulse,  though  usually  ideals  are  normal, 
and  clash  with  behaviour.* 

Such  broad  generalisations,  however,  are  far 
from  satisfactory  when  applied  to  individual 
cases ;  and  there  is  no  more  perplexing  problem 
of  individual  psychology  and  physiology  than 
the  subtle  differences  which  make  it  possible 
for  one  man  to  drink  moderately  throughout 
life,  without  danger  of  excess,  while  another, 
apparently  as  well  constituted  and  living  under 
as  favourable  conditions  perishes  in  the  pres- 
ence of  alcohol. 

In  order  to  secure  reliable  data  about  the 
alcohol  habit  sixty-five  cases  were  studied  at 
first  hand.  Most  of  these  were  men  committed 

•Williams  (»»)  says  that  inebriates  are  recruited  from 
two  types,  the  hysterical  and  the  psychasthenic.  Wilson  (»») 
has  presented  excellent  clinical  studies  of  types  of  inebriates, 
and  emphasises  the  subtlety  and  complexity  of  the  factors  in- 
volved in  the  abnormal  diathesis  of  alcoholism. 


A  STUDY  OP  ABNORMAL  CASES  135 

for  drunkenness  and  other  minor  offences  in 
the  Worcester  County  House  of  Correction. 
Some  were  cases  confined  in  asylums  for  j 


New  York  City.  A  few  interesting  ac- 
counts were  obtained  through  other  sources, 
among  them  some  secured  at  the  Jere  McAuley 
Mission  in  New  York.  Each  case  was  visited 
in  person  by  the  writer,  and  no  fact  has  been 
included  that  was  not  obtained  thus  at  first 
hand. 

The  main  purpose  of  the  study  was  to  dis- 
cover the  nature  of  the  craving  for  alcohol  as 
felt  by  the  drinker,  the  genesis  of  the  habit  in 
his  consciousness,  and  the  part  it  has  played  in 
his  life.  The  result  was  a  certainty  that  crav- 
ings which  are  naturally  social  in  expression 
are  at  the  bottom  of  all  drinking  of  this  class, 
that  there  is  little  personal  initiative,  and  little 
or  no  specific  craving  for  alcoholic  drinks.  In- 
toxication is  a  part  of  a  social  event,  and  has 
no  other  significance  for  the  great  majority  of 
drinkers,  even  drunkards.  What  the  man 
craves  is  social  excitement,  or  something 
which,  at  his  grade  of  intelligence,  is  best 
satisfied  by  social  excitement.  The  man  be- 
comes and  remains  a  drunkard  because,  in 
the  class  of  society  in  which  he  lives,  so- 
cial life  is  almost  invariably  accompanied 
by  drinking.  It  requires  no  very  low  order 
of  moral  standard  for  a  man  under  these 


136     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

circumstances  to  become  a  hard  drinker.  All 
that  is  required  is  a  nervous  system  rather  more 
than  usually  susceptible  to  the  effects  of  alco- 
hol, and  a  low  resistance  to  habit.  Very  few 
indeed  are  conscious  of  possessing  a  craving  for 
alcoholic  drinks,  or  of  desiring  a  state  of  in- 
toxication  except  in  its  social  form.  Being 
actually  drunk  is  an  accident,  and  is  usually 
neither  intended  nor  expected.  The  drunkard 
usually  deludes  himself  with  the  belief  that  the 
drunk  from  which  he  is  just  recovering  is  to 
be  the  last  one,  and  that  the  next  time  he  will 
drink  only  enough  to  be  mildly  excited,  if  indeed 
he  will  not  abandon  drinking  altogether.  These 
amiable  decisions  hold  until  he  is  the  next  time 
tempted  by  the  presence  of  drinking  compan- 
ions. There  are  always  men  enough  who  are 
just  taking  a  drink  to  keep  up  the  suggestion  for 
those  who  waver  undecided  whether  to  drink 
or  not  once  more.  We  can  go  so  far  indeed 
as  to  say  that  intoxication  is  a  social  state, 
that  a  man  is  intoxicated  in  the  proper 
sense  of  the  term  only  in  company,  desires  it 
only  with  reference  to  others  in  the  same  condi- 
tion ;  that  solitary,  excessive  drinking  is  a  mor- 
bid  habit,  is  sought  usually  for  stupefaction, 
has  well-marked  features  of  disease,  or  eccen- 
tricity, and  exists  usually  in  those  having 
other  signs  of  mental  deterioration  of  a  pro- 
nounced kind.  It  is  felt  to  be  abnormal  even 


A  STUDY  OF  ABNORMAL  CASES  137 

by  the  hardest  social  drinker,  who  abhors  soli- 
tary drinking  as  much  as  the  temperate  person 
abhors  the  ordinary  drunkard. 

In  fifty-eight  of  the  sixty-five  cases  studied 
there  was  no  evidence  of  anything  like  a  con- 
scious craving  for  alcoholic  drinks,  although 
most  of  the  men  were  confirmed  drunkards. 
Nearly  all  had  been  committed  more  than  once 
for  drinking,  and  one  was  serving  his  six- 
teenth term  for  that  offence.  The  statement 
usually  made  by  these  men  was  that,  when 
alcoholic  drinks  had  for  any  reason  been  cut 
off  for  from  ten  to  twenty  days,  all  craving  for 
drink  ceased.  The  testimony  on  this  point,  and 
the  exceptions  to  the  general  rule,  can  best  be 
shown  by  quoting  excerpts  from  the  actual  rec- 
ords of  the  cases.  The  language  used  is  so  far 
as  possible  that  of  the  subject,  taken  down  at 
the  time  of  the  interview,  or  immediately  after- 
wards. What  it  lacks  in  elegance  is  perhaps 
compensated  by  directness  and  sincerity. 

Case  1.  Man,  25  years  of  age.  Has  been  a  drinker  since 
fifteen.  He  has  used  a  quart  of  whisky  daily  for  years.  Has 
drunk  alone,  but  generally  likes  to  drink  in  a  crowd.  He  haa 
no  craving  for  liquor  when  he  is  in  jail. 

Case  2.  Man,  31  years  old.  Drank  his  first  glass  at  24. 
Drinks  socially  altogether.  He  has  been  in  the  habit  of  being 
intoxicated  every  Saturday  night.  He  has  no  craving  for 
drink  while  in  jail,  nor  during  the  week  when  he  is  out.  When 
he  is  tired  and  thirsty  a  glass  of  beer  tastes  good;  but  after 
that,  it  is  not  the  taste.  He  drinks  for  the  feeling,  or  because 
he  has  lost  control  of  himself,  and  doesn't  care  what  he  does. 


138     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

Afterwards  he  feels  the  disgrace  of  his  actions  keenly.  He 
is  strong,  of  athletic  build,  and  in  perfect  health  so  far  as 
he  knows. 

Case  3.  Man,  36.  He  always  drinks  in  company.  He  never 
intends  to  get  drunk  when  he  starts.  Occasionally  between 
drunks  he  will  take  a  glass  of  beer.  Trouble  will  always  make 
him  go  and  get  drunk.  When  in  jail  he  feels  the  loss  of  his 
pipe,  but  does  not  feel  the  loss  of  his  drink.  As  a  boy,  he  was 
very  shy  and  bashful.  As  a  young  man  he  was  in  the  habit 
of  taking  a  few  drinks  before  going  to  a  party  or  social,  in 
order  to  overcome  his  shyness. 

Case  4.  Man,  38.  Has  been  drinking  since  he  was  sixteen. 
He  very  seldom  drinks  alone.  Has  no  appetite  at  all  for 
alcoholic  drinks  when  he  is  in  jail,  and  doesn't  see  why  it 
cannot  be  the  same  when  he  is  free.  If  he  succeeds  in  going 
for  two  or  three  weeks  without  drinking  he  has  no  craving  for 
liquor. 

Case  5.  Man,  52.  He  has  been  a  drinker  since  he  was 
sixteen.  For  the  past  few  years  has  drunk  very  heavily. 
He  drinks  mostly  in  company.  He  drinks  because  he  worries. 
Hasn't  missed  liquor  since  he  has  been  in  confinement.  He 
feels  the  need  of  his  tobacco.  He  has  always  been  of  a 
nervous  temperament.  He  thinks  he  will  never  drink  again. 

Case  6.  Man,  21.  Has  been  drinking  since  he  was  fourteen. 
Has  dmnk  alone  a  good  deal.  He  likes  to  be  alone  when 
drinking.  Has  drunk  as  many  as  thirty  glasses  of  liquor 
daily.  He  had  been  drinking  heavily  when  he  was  arrested, 
but  missed  the  liquor  afterwards  only  for  two  or  three  days. 
It  now  takes  more  to  make  him  drunk  than  when  he  began 
drinking. 

Case  7.  Man,  43.  He  has  been  drinking  since  twenty.  If 
he  takes  one  drink  he  is  sure  to  take  another.  Doesn't  like 
the  taste,  either  of  beer  or  liquors.  It  is  for  the  feeling  after 
it  is  down  that  he  takes  it.  If  there  were  no  rum  to  be  had, 
he  would  never  have  a  craving  for  it. 

Case  8.  Man,  32.  A  very  hard  drinker.  Doesn't  care  for 
the  taste  of  liquor  at  all.  Doesn't  care  anything  about  it 
until  he  gets  into  company.  He  never  goes  into  a  saloon 
alone.  If  he  is  worried  about  anything,  he  goes  out  looking 


A  STUDY  OF  ABNORMAL  CASES  139 

for  company  and  drinks.  In  jail  he  craves  neither  liquor  nor 
tobacco,  except  chewing  tobacco. 

Case  9.  Alan,  43.  Of  melancholy  temperament.  His  drink- 
ing is  periodic.  He  always  drinks  alone.  When  he  drinks 
with  a  crowd  he  spends  too  much  money.  He  will  go  two 
or  three  months  and  have  no  desire  for  liquor  at  all.  Once 
lie  went  a  year  without  tasting  it.  He  feels  certain  that  he 
will  never  drink  again. 

Case  10.  Man,  50.  He  has  been  drinking  since  he  was  six- 
teen. He  has  never  had  a  craving  for  drink.  Never  thinks 
of  it  when  he  is  in  jail.  Does  not  like  the  taste  of  beer 
or  whisky  or  any  other  kind  of  liquor.  He  never  goes  into 
a  saloon  to  drink  alone,  even  when  he  has  plenty  of  money. 
He  never  goes  into  a  saloon  because  he  wants  a  drink. 

Case  11.  Man,  48.  Has  been  drinking  since  nineteen. 
Doesn't  like  the  taste  of  liquor.  He  never  goes  in  to  get  a 
drink  by  himself.  He  drinks  by  sprees.  When  he  meets  two 
or  three  old  friends  he  likes  to  go  in  and  talk  over  old  times, 
thus  gets  to  drinking,  and  then  can't  stop.  Misses  tobacco 
much  more  than  liquor.  "A  man  doesn't  need  liquor;  he 
does  need  tobacco."  He  is  sure  he  is  not  going  to  drink  any 
more. 

Case  12.  Man,  43.  Has  been  drinking  since  he  was  twenty- 
five.  Doesn't  like  the  taste  of  liquor.  Has  no  craving  for  it 
now,  or  ever.  But  he  cannot  take  a  glass  or  two  and  then 
stop.  He  always  gets  drunk  when  he  drinks  at  all.  His 
health  is  good,  and  he  is  not  of  a  nervous  temperament. 

Case  13.  Man,  40.  Has  been  drinking  since  seventeen.  At 
thirty  he  gave  up  drinking  beer,  and  began  to  drink  whisky 
altogether.  He  always  drank  alone,  and  every  day.  His  usual 
allowance  has  been  from  fifteen  to  twenty  glasses  in  a  day. 
Four  years  ago  he  took  a  six  weeks'  treatment,  and  managed 
after  that  to  go  a  year  without  drinking  a  drop.  Has  no 
craving  for  liquor  at  all  while  in  confinement,  but  there  is 
all  the  time  a  struggle  against  fatigue  and  depression.  Al- 
ways, if  he  has  had  nothing  to  drink  for  a  month  or  two, 
there  is  no  craving  for  it,  and  the  return  to  drinking  is  acci- 
dental. 

Case  14.    Man,  18.     Doesn't  like  the  taste  of  liquor  except 


\ 


140     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

after  he  has  already  been  drinking  heavily.  For  three  or 
four  weeks  after  coming  to  jail,  he  craved  both  liquor  and 
tobacco.  Now  he  does  not  think  of  either. 

Case  15.  Man,  36,  A  sailor.  He  drinks  nothing  when  at 
sea.  He  misses  it  only  the  first  two  or  three  days  out. 
Since  he  has  been  in  jail  he  has  missed  his  pipe,  but  he 
doesn't  crave  drink.  He  never  drinks  alone.  Doesn't  like  the 
taste  of  liquor;  it  is  the  sensation  that  he  cares  for. 

Case  16.  Man,  35.  The  first  drink  was  taken  at  fourteen. 
The  only  craving  is  on  a  hot  day,  when  thirsty,  and  then  he 
really  feels  a  craving  for  a  glass  of  beer.  It  is  impossible 
for  him  to  drink  moderately  now.  When  he  drinks,  he  al- 
ways drinks  too  much.  When  he  hasn't  had  a  drink,  he 
doesn't  want  it.  When  he  has,  he  wants  more.  He  is  in  per- 
fect health,  so  far  as  he  knows. 

Case  17.  Man,  24.  He  doesn't  like  the  taste  of  whisky  nor 
crave  it;  but  when  he  once  has  a  taste  of  it,  he  can't  stop  short 
of  extreme  intoxication.  He  is  never  tempted  to  drink  except 
when  he  is  out  with  the  boys. 

Case  18.  Man,  26.  He  has  been  drinking  since  twenty. 
After  he  has  had  one  drink,  he  has  a  strong  desire  for  more. 
Otherwise  he  has  no  taste  for  it  whatever,  and  never  thinks 
of  it  except  when  he  is  where  there  is  excitement,  and  there 
is  drinking  going  on.  To  have  a  good  time  is  the  beginning 
of  his  drinking. 

Case  19.  Man,  23.  He  has  no  craving  for  liquor.  Once 
in  a  while  he  drinks  alone,  but  never  intentionally  to  get 
drunk.  He  likes  the  taste  of  whisky.  When  he  is  with  a 
crowd  he  doesn't  feel  that  he  is  having  a  good  time  unless 
he  drinks.  If  he  takes  one  drink,  he  always  gets  drunk. 

In  the  seven  cases  which  follow  there  is  more 
positive  evidence  that  the  state  of  intoxication 
plays  a  part  in  the  system  of  conscious  desires 
of  the  individual.  Those  who  think  that  the 
drunkard  is  a  man  who  has  a  diseased  appetite 
for  drink,  caused  perhaps  by  the  use  of  alco- 


A  STUDY  OF  ABNORMAL  CASES  141 

hoi,  or  who  incline  to  the  belief  that  a  drunk- 
ard is  what  he  is  because  he  does  not  wish  to 
"do  right,"  will  find  in  such  cases  material 
for  reflection.  They  will  see  at  least  how  in- 
tricately the  drinking  habit  is  bound  up  with 
all  the  most  vital  functions  of  a  man's  life.  To 
control  his  habit,  the  man  must  sometimes 
change  his  whole  life  plan,  create  for  himself  , 
new  social  interests,  perhaps  choose  a  new  oc-  < 
cupation,  or  withdraw  himself  altogether  from 
his  old  social  life.  And  then,  when  he  has  ex- 
erted all  his  will  force,  and  taxed  all  his  in- 
genuity, and  has  perhaps  been  many  months 
or  years  without  tasting  an  intoxicant,  he  may 
find  that  he  is  not  yet  secure  against  relapse. 
He  may  go  through  life  never  secure  from  at- 
tack, feeling  as  does  our  Case  22  that  his  drink- 
ing is  a  thing  as  external  to  his  own  control  as 
is  the  most  accidental  calamity  that  can  befall 
one,  an  event  against  which  he  has  no  resource 
for  protection  in  his  own  will.  And  yet  these 
indomitable  habits  are  in  the  great  majority  . 
of  men  not  felt  as  a  craving  either  for  liquor 
or  its  effects,  and  the  great  mass  of  evidence 
>J  shows  that  independently  of  the  social  life  sur- 
rounding the  individual,  they  have  little  con- 
trol over  him. 

Case  20.  Man,  49.  Unmarried.  There  is  no  nervous  dis- 
ease nor  insanity  in  the  family  so  far  as  he  knows.  His 
father  died  at  seventy-six  years  of  old  age;  his  mother  at  fifty 


142     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

of  pneumonia.  He  has  six  brothers  and  sisters  none  of  whom 
use  liquors.  He  himself  has  always  been  healthy.  The  first 
drink  was  taken  at  sixteen.  He  used  to  set  up  tenpins  in  a 
bowling  alley,  and  began  to  drink  beer  there.  He  had  left 
school  at  fourteen  and  had  always  been  a  good  boy.  For  a 
long  time  he  drank  beer  regularly,  but  never  tasted  liquors.  At 
last  he  began  to  use  stronger  drinks.  He  never  liked  the 
taste  of  them,  but  used  them  for  the  feeling,  usually  beginning 
to  drink  when  he  _was  disjgouraged.  He  has  never  had  the 
habit  of  daily  drinking,  but  has  drunk  by  sprees.  Between 
drunks  he  would  not  drink  at  all.  He  has  tried  very  hard 
to  overcome  the  habit.  He  knew  it  was  wrong,  and  knew 
that  it  was  hurting  him  in  every  way.  He  would  fight  his 
inclinations  for  several  days,  but  sooner  or  later  would  get  in 
with  the  boys.  Of  late  years  he  has  drunk  mostly  alone. 
He  went  without  drink  once  for  two  years,  from  the  age  of 
about  twenty-seven  to  twenty-nine.  At  that  time  he  was  work- 
ing for  good  pay,  and  made  up  his  mind  to  stop  drinking,  and 
succeeded. 

Every  week  for  the  last  seven  years  he  has  spent  two  days 
in  drinking  and  three  days  in  recovering  from  the  effects  of 
it.  In  this  he  has  been  perfectly  regular.  Although, 
during  all  these  years,  he  has  never  once  missed  his  spree, 
he  thinks  that  if  there  had_been_n£_waj_of  obtaining  liquor, 
he  would  not  have  craved  it.  He  has  no  craving  for  it  now 
at  all,  and  doesn't  even  think  of  it,  when  in  confinement. 
But  when  he  was  working,  every  Saturday  he  would  think 
of  it  all  the  afternoon,  wouM  go  home  in  the  evening,  change 
his  clothes,  and  go  down  town.  He  would  walk  about  for  a 
time,  until  about  eight  o'clock.  Then  he  would  go  in  and  get 
a  glass  of  beer.  That  would  be  the  beginning  of  his  drink- 
ing, which  would  be  kept  up  steadily  until  Tuesday.  He 
knows  of  no  cause  for  his  drinking,  and  cannot  in  any  way 
explain  the  impulse  which  is  quite  beyond  his  control.  He 
never  left  the  shop  Saturday  afternoon  without  intending  to 
stay  sober,  and  to  control  his  desire.  And  each  time  when  he 
was  sober,  he  determined  never  to  drink  again.  He  feels  that 
there  is  some  peculiar  weakness  in  his  nature,  and  thinks 
that  even  in  the  absence  of  liquor,  he  would  have  found  some 


A  STUDY  OF  ABNORMAL  CASES  143 

other  way  to  ruin  himself.  He  says  that  now  he  feels  quite 
convinced  that  he  will  never  drink  again.  In  temperament, 
he  is  nervous.  As  a  child  he  was  restless  and  uneasy,  of  vivid 
imagination,  honest  and  truthful,  and  quick-tempered.  He 
has  never  cared  much  for  the  society  of  the  other  sex. 

Case  21.  Man,  38.  An  only  child.  This  man  is  a  pe- 
riodical drinker.  At  eleven  he  was  made  drunk  by  com- 
panions, and  was  taken  home  by  two  men.  He  doesn't 
remember  feeling  sorry.  As  a  child  and  growing  boy  he  was 
very  nervous  and  high-strung.  At  seventeen  he  began  to 
drink  regularly  and  has  been  a  periodic  drinker  from  that 
time.  At_thirty-two  he  broke  his  leg,  and  at  that  time  began 
tq^use  opium  to  kill  the  j>a_iii.  He  has  used  it  ever  since. 
Morphine  makes  him  feel  dull;  but  it  is  quite  different  with 
alcohol.  A  little  of  any  alcoholic  drink  makes  him  thrill  all 
over.  The  least  taste  of  any  liquor  will  set  him  going,  even 
sweet  cider,  unless  it  is  just  out  of  the  press.  Morphine  he 
now  uses  only  after  he  has  been  drinking  heavily.  It  sobers 
him,  and  makes  him  fall  asleep,  and  so  puts  an  end  to  his 
spree. 

His  periods  are  usually  precipitated  by  meeting  a  friend. 
Meeting  an  old  comrade  affects  him  in  a  strange  manner  which 
he  cannot  explain.  He  is  inclined  to  be  very  intense  both  in 
his  likes  and  dislikes,  and  it  is  the  strange  feeling  aroused 
by  meeting  an  old  acquaintance  that  is  more  likely  than  any- 
thing else  to  lead  to  a  long  spree.  He  dislikes  the  taste  of 
liquors  of  all  kinds,  even  detests  them.  His  periods  come 
now  at  intervals  of  from  three  months  to  a  year.  Once  he 
went  two  years  without  drinking.  Many  times  he  can  con- 
trol the  impulse  even  when  it  is  strong,  but  he  is  very  easily 
and  strangely  influenced.  He  feels  that  he  will  control  his 
appetite  altogether  sometime,  but  expects  another  attack  when 
he  is  released  this  time.  He  thinks  he  is  safest  when  he  is 
where  liquor  can  readily  be  obtained.  For  when  he  is  away 
where  he  cannot  get  it,  there  is  likely  to  be  an  increasing 
craving.  PeriQds__a re ^_jnost._Jikely_to_-come (  or^  w.hen  he  is 
discouraged  or  depressed.  He  is  by  nature  of  an  unstable  dis- 
position, loves  frequent  change,  and  has  worked  at  many 
trades.  As  a  boy  he  had  plenty  of  money,  had  a  good  edu- 


144     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

cation,  and  did  not  expect  to  earn  his  own  living.  He  feels 
keenly  the  disgrace  of  his  condition. 

Case  22.  Man,  34.  An  actor.  He  is  in  good  health,  and 
has  no  nervous  disorder.  His  first  drink  was  taken  at  twelve. 
He  was  out  skating,  on  a  cold  night,  and  drank  cherry  brandy. 
His  next  drink  was  taken  when  he  was  seventeen.  He  was 
working  in  a  bank,  came  down  town  too  late  for  breakfast, 
and  ordered  a  glass  of  beer.  He  was  alone.  After  this,  he 
drank  more  or  less,  always  socially.  He  was  occasionally  in- 
toxicated but  only  at  times  of  unusual  festivity,  such  as 
New  Year's  Day  and  the  like.  He  was  married  at  twenty- 
one.  From  twenty-one  to  twenty-seven  he  drank  more  or  less 
steadily  but  only  in  a  social  way.  At  twenty-seven  he  was 
separated  from  his  wife.  After  that  he  drank  to  excess  in 
"order  to  forget  his  troubles.  He  drank  alone  altogether,  and 
continuously.  He  rented  a  room,  and  began  a  spree  which 
lasted  for  six  months,  for  during  that  time  there  was  not  a 
day  in  which  he  was  fully  sober.  Since  then  his  drinking 
has  been  somewhat  periodical.  He  went  West  to  work  on  a 
ranch,  and  for  eight  months  drank  no  liquor  of  any  kind. 
He  was  where  it  could  not  be  obtained  conveniently,  and  he 
had  no  craving  for  it.  He  was  offered  liquor  a  few  times 
during  that  period,  but  refused  it.  Lately  his  sprees  have 
been  becoming  more  frequent.  Sometimes  he  can  go  for  a 
few  weeks  and  drink  more  or  less  moderately,  but  he  in- 
variably ends  in  an  uncontrollable  spree.  Five  years  ago  he 
spent  four  weeks  at  the  Keeley  Cure,  and  after  that  went 
three  years  without  drinking.  His  sprees  always  last  as  long 
as  he  has  money  or  can  get  whisky.  As  regards  the  craving, 
when  he  hasn't  been  drinking  he  doesn't  crave  liquor,  but 
when  he  has  once  started  the  need  is  imperative.  He  has 
had  no  craving  since  he  came  to  the  inebriates*  home,  al- 
though he  has  not  been  under  restraint.  He  thinks  that  if 
he  lived  all  the  time  in  such  an  environment  he  would  never 
think  of  liquor.  The  craving  is  more  of  a  mental  than  a 
physical  craving.  It  is  to  get  awjiy  from  himself. 

The  craving  for  drink  is  a  crnvin;,'  which  any  other  pleasure 
equnl  in  degree  would  satisfy.  It  is  a  disgust  with  present 
conditions,  and  a  desire  to  cut  loose  from  old  ruts  and  have 


A  STUDY  OF  ABNORMAL  CASES  145 

a  change.  Of  late  his  sprees  have  always  been  preceded  by 
a  fit  of  despondency.  Looking  back,  he  can  trace  two  differ- 
ent conditions  which  have  been  likely  to  bring  on  a  period  of 
drinking:  one  is  unusual  depression;  the  other,  unusual  suc- 
cess. The  nature  of  his  spree  differs  greatly  according  as 
one  or  the  other  of  these  motives  initiates  it.  If  he  starts 
in  a  happy  mood  he  is  jovial  all  the  time;  if  he  starts  drink- 
ing when  he  is  depressed,  he  is  unsocial  and  silent,  and  there 
is  no  stage  of  exhilaration.  He  does  not  feel  at  all  sure  that 
he  will  be  cured  by  his  present  treatment.  One  might  as  well 
ask  him  whether  he  intended  ever  to  have  pneumonia  again. 
It  is  a  thing  which  he  does  not  control. 

Case  23.  Man,  45.  He  was  seventeen  when  he  took  his 
first  drink.  It  was  at  a  wedding.  After  that  he  drank  stead- 
ily, though  his  drinking  tended  to  be  somewhat  periodical 
from  the  start.  His  sprees  occur  at  intervals  of  from  three 
to  six  months.  The  longest  period  of  abstinence  was  a  year 
and  a  half  when  he  was  thirty-eight.  During  all  that  time 
he  never  had  any  craving  for  liquor  whatever.  Excitement 
and  the  renewaj^  of  associations  broke  the  spell.  His  sprees 
are  induced  usually  by  associating  with  people  who  drink, 
or  fcy_^misfortune,  or  jmger.  He  does  not  like  the  taste  of 
alcohol,  nor  crave  drinTFin  any  way;  but  if  he  begins  drink- 
ing, he  cannot  stop.  He  has  been  arrested  eight  or  ten  times, 
each  time  for  drinking.  When  drunk  he  is  peaceable  and  jolly. 
He  never  drinks  alone.  Probably  never  drank  twenty-five 
drinks  alone  in  his  life.  He  craves  tobacco,  incessantly,  and 
the  want  of  it  when  he  is  in  confinement  makes  him  nervous 
and  irritable.  He  doesn't  feel  at  all  certain  that  his  drinking 
is  permanently  stopped.  He  thinks  confinement  has  no  bene- 
ficial effect,  for  a  man  cannot  be  cured  of  drunkenness  by 
loneliness.  The  only  way  to  cure  him  is  to  keep  him  away 
from  drinking  society. 

Case  24.  Man  413.  Born  in  Ireland.  For  the  last  twenty- 
eight  years,  he  has  been  drunk  about  once  a  week.  \Ylien 
he  is  out  of  jail,  he  has  a  craving  for  drink.  It  is  like  a 
gnawing  in  the  stomach,  as  though  he  wanted  something  to 
eat.  He  thinks  about  it  all  the  time  until  he  gets  a  drink. 
When  he  is  in  jail,  he  doesn't  think  of  it  at  all.  Tobacco 


146     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

he  constantly  craves  and  it  would  be  the  same  with  whisky 
probably  if  there  were  any  chance  of  getting  it  in  his  present 
situation.  Jt^is_Jthe^  thought  of  it  which  puts  the  appetite 
down  into  the  stomach.  He~has"Taken  the  pledge  a  good  many 
times,  and  kept  it  once  for  a  year  and  a  half,  fifteen  years 
ago. 

Case  25.  Man,  40.  Is  nervous,  weak,  and  emaciated.  Suf- 
fers from  insomnia.  Says  he  doesn't  know  of  any  worse  drunk- 
ard than  himself.  He  left  school  at  the  age  of  fifteen,  and 
at  eighteen,  when  out  with  a  crowd  of  boys,  drank  beer  for 
the  first  time — two  glasses.  He  has  never  been  able  from  the 
very  start  to  drink  moderately.  Still  he  thinks  he  has  no 
craving  for  liquor  except  when  he  has  already  been  drinking. 
He  never  cares  for  it  when  alone,  except  after  drinking,  and 
then  he  would  walk  miles  to  get  it  He  managed  once  to  stop 
for  a  few  months,  but  soon  got  out  with  the  boys  again.  He 
thought  at  the  time  he  would  be  able  to  drink  moderately 
but  he  was  soon  as  bad  as  ever.  His  sprees  usually  last  until 
he  gets  out  of  money,  and  sometimes  he  drinks  almost  con- 
tinuously for  two  weeks.  He  never  thinks  of  liquor  when  he 
is  in  jail,  but  craves  tobacco.  He  thinks  he  has  been  growing 
worse  lately.  The  excitement  and  exhilaration  after  drinking 
is  less,  he  seems  to  lose  his  mind,  and  can  remember  after- 
wards but  little  that  has  happened.  He  has  frequently  signed 
pledges  and  once  or  twice  has  gone  three  or  four  months 
without  drinking.  He  means  to  do  right,  and  has  sworn 
time  and  time  again  never  to  touch  liquor  again.  The 
craving  for  liquor,  as  he  feels  it,  is  hard  to  describe.  He 
recognises  it  as  a  feeling  of  craving  and  worrying,  and  it  is 
entirely  different  from  the  craving  a  man  has  after  he  has 
been  drinking.  Since  he  has  been  in  jail  he  has  felt  worried 
and  depressed,  but  he  has  felt  nothing  which  he  can  call  a 
desire  for  liquor.  Sometimes  his  desire  can  be  controlled. 
Once  when  he  had  not  been  drinking  for  two  months  he  came 
to  the  city  on  a  holiday,  and  going  by  a  saloon  it  seemed  as 
though  he  must  go  in  and  get  a  drink.  The  thought  almost 
made  him  dizzy;  he  thought  he  could  take  no  interest  in 
anything,  and  felt  as  though  all  the  fun  would  be  dull  and 
monotonous,  unless  he  should  have  a  drink  to  help  him  enjoy 


A  STUDY  OF  ABNORMAL  CASES  147 

it.  But  he  resisted  the  temptation,  went  into  a  restaurant 
and  had  dinner,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  day  had  no  thought 
of  drink.  Sometimes,  when  he  has  a  craving  for  drink,  other 
things  will  satisfy  him,  as  non-alcoholic  beverages,  or  a  din- 
ner, as  in  the  case  spoken  of.  The  presence  or  odour  of  alco- 
hol will  not  always  arouse  a  craving  for  it.  He  would  often  be 
where  there  was  liquor  in  plenty,  and  would  have  no  desire 
for  it,  and  couldn't  be  induced  to  touch  it. 

Case  26.  Woman,  52.  In  appearance  she  is  strong,  well- 
nourished,  apparently  of  strong  will,  and  very  intelligent. 
She  is  a  very  religious  woman,  and  is  very  sensitive  about  her 
degradation  and  her  menial  position.  At  times  she  is  un- 
social, irritable,  and  sarcastic.  She  has  been  a  periodic  drinker 
for  the  past  seventeen  years.  The  periods  have  usually  come 
at  intervals  of  from  four  to  six  weeks.  Once  she  went  six 
months  without  drinking.  Thinks  she  has  been  worse  since 
the  age  of  about  forty-four.  For  the  past  four  and  a  half 
years  she  has  been  abstinent,  having  been  in  voluntary  con- 
finement in  an  asylum  for  inebriates.  She  is  not  in  any  way 
under  restraint.  She  goes  out  on  errands,  and  to  church, 
and  during  the  day  works,  serving  the  institution  in  the 
capacity  of  cook.  She  still  has  the  craving  for  alcoholic 
drinks,  and  it  is  likely  to  come  on  about  once  in  a  month. 
At  these  times  she  goes  to  the  matron  and  asks  to  be  watched. 
She  thinks  that  she  will  have  to  fight  this  craving  all  her 
life.  Her  only  physical  ailment,  so  far  as  she  knows,  is  a 
slight  dyspepsia,  accompanied  by  nervousness.  If  anything 
goes  wrong  her  craving  is~likely~to  be  made  more  intense.  At 
these  times  she  feels  as  though  she  must  constantly  restrain 
herself  to  keep  from  going  out  to  get  a  drink.  At  communion 
service  the  taste  of  unfermented  wine  makes  her  "mad"  to 
drink  the  whole  cup.  The  craving  is  not  a  thirst,  and  is 
very  different  from  the  craving  she  used  to  have  after  drink- 
ing. .  Then  the  craving  would  be  irresistible.  She  would  walk 
from  Harlem  to  the  Battery  to  get  a  drink  if  necessary.  Her 
craving  as  far  as  she  can  analyse  it,  appears  to  be  a  longing 
made  up  of  depression,  accompanied  by  increased  sensitive- 
ness to  slights  of  all  kinds,  and  a  general  nervous  irritability. 


148     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

These  facts  for  the  most  part  tell  their  own 
story,  and  little  needs  to  be  added  by  way  of 
comment.  It  is  certain  that  the  craving  for  alco- 
hol, in  the  sense  of  a  physical  craving,  has  little 
to  do  with  the  appetite  of  the  drunkard;  and, 
in  general,  there  is  little  to  indicate  that  there 
is  any  kind  of  a  specific  craving  for  drink.  QThe 
craving  for  alcohol,  whatever  it  may  be,  is  more 
than  a  desire  to  take  a  drink.  It  is  a  craving 
for  something  which  accompanies  the  drinkj) 
With  one  or  two  exceptions  the  testimony  is 
universal  that  after  a  man  has  been  without 
liquor  for  a  few  days  (ten  days  is  the  time  most 
frequently  mentioned)  there  is  no  longer  a  long- 
ing for  it.  This  is  especially  true  when  a  man 
is  situated  so  that  it  cannot  be  obtained.  The 
Irishman  of  Case  24  expressed  it  well  when  he 
said  that  it  was  the  thought  of  the  liquor  that 
puts  the  appetite  down  into  the  stomach.  This 
testimony  is  emphatic,  and  must  be  accepted 
as  correct  within  the  limits  of  the  introspec- 
tive power  of  these  subjects.  The  testimony  is 
quite  as  strong  that  for  the  nrst  few  days  in 
confinement  the  craving  for  alcohol  may  be  in- 
tense and  persistent,  and  with  it  then  may  be 
physiological  disturbances,  such  as  a  general 
distress,  burning  in  the  throat  and  stomach, 
weakness  and  trembling.  Such  testimony  con- 
firms the  conclusion  of  Starke  that  alcohol  has 
little  or  no  power  to  create,  in  the  body,  a  crav- 


A  STUDY  OF  ABNOEMAL  CASES  149 

ing  for  itself,  such  as  is  popularly  supposed. 
The  usual  reply  (which  came  to  be  expected 
fcecause  of  its  frequency),  when  a  man  was  asked 
whether  he  felt  the  loss  of  his  liquor  in  confine- 
ment was,  "I  never  think  of  it,"  or,  "It  never 
bothers  me  aFall. ' '  On  the  other  hand  the  testi- 
mony is  equally  strong  that  tobacco  is  greatly 
missed  by  the  man  who  is  accustomed  to  it  and 
cannot  get  it.  The  change  of  expression  of  the 
face  when  tobacco  was  mentioned  left  no  doubt, 
in  a  great  many  cases,  of  the  difference  of  atti- 
tude toward  it  and  toward  alcoholic  drinks. 
Tobacco  was  certainly  craved  by  these  men,  in 
some  cases  with  almost  pathetic  intensity. 
Many  said,  "I  think  of  it  every  day." 

There  are  several  reasons  for  the  difference 
in  the  feelings  toward  alcohol  and  toward  to- 
bacco. One  is,  that  tobacco  is  sometimes  to  be 
had  in  jail,  and  can  be  used  secretly;  occasion- 
ally its  use  is  permitted  by  the  authorities,  pro- 
vided it  is  not  used  openly.  So  there  is  al- 
ways a  possibility  of  obtaining  tobacco,  espe- 
cially chewing  tobacco.  But  smoking  is  not 
allowed,  and  yet  there  is  in  many  cases  a  crav- 
ing for  it.  Another  reason  is  that  tobacco  is 
not  connected  with  the  disgrace  and  inconven- 
ience of  imprisonment,  and  therefore  the  desire 
for  it  is  not  inhibited.  There  is  still  another 
reason,  the  centre  of  the  whole  matter,  it  is 
likely,  and  the  explanation  of  the  nature  of  the 


150     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

craving  for  drink.  Tobacco  is  used,  perhaps 
most  enjoyably,  when  a  man  is  quiet  and  alone. 
It  is  used  for  its  soothing  effects.  It  is  a  soli- 
tary habit,  and  not  essentially  a  social  habit; 
and  the  solitariness  of  prison  life  continually 
suggests  the  use  of  this  accustomed  companion 
of  quiet  moods.  The  alcohol  habit,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  decidedly  not  a  solitary  habit,  but 
J  through  and  through  a  social  habit.  The  condi- 
tions of  prison  life  are  unfavourable  for  keep- 
ing alive  the  craving  for  alcohol,  for  they  en- 
tirely inhibit  the  social  mood  in  which  alcohol 
is  most  normally  used.  It  is  certain  at  least 
that  whatever  craving  for  alcohol  these  men 
had,  it  was  not  recognised  by  them  as  a  longing 
for  alcoholic  drinks.  The  sudden  disappear- 
ance of  it  from  consciousness,  after  a  few  days, 
x  leads  to  the  same  conclusion.  The  longing  for 
the  alcoholic  stimulation  is  but  a  part,  and  in 
many  cases  a  small  and  unessential  and  subse- 
quent part  of  a  larger  impulse,  a  longing  for 
social  exhilaration  and  elevation  of  the  feelings, 
for  a  change  in  the  attitude  toward  life,  realised 
nine  times  out  of  ten  through  social  relations. 
The  only  conscious  craving  for  alcohol  as 
such  is  to  be  found  in  the  neurotic  cases.*  The 

*I  have  not  tried,  in  presenting  these  cases,  to  distinguish 
clearly  between  ordinary  drunkenness  and  true  dipsomania 
which  is  a  comparatively  infrequent  condition.  Dipsomania 
is  now  recognised  to  be  a  mental  disorder,  the  main  symptom 
of  which  is  an  uncontrollable  periodic  desire  for  a  critical 


A  STUDY  OF  ABNORMAL  CASES  151 

clearest  example  is  Case  26.  In  this  case  there 
is  certainly  a  periodic  nervous  disturbance  of 
some  kind,  which  is  interpreted  as  a  craving  for 
alcoholic  drinks.  But  on  analysis  the  sharpness 
and  definiteness  of  the  specific  craving  seems  to 
fade  away.  It  is  a  nervousness,  a  depression, 
a  general  irritability  of  the  mind.  The  strongly 
fixed  belief  that  there  is  indelibly  stamped  in 
her  mind  a  longing  for  alcohol  helps  to  keep 
up  this  desire  and  to  concentrate  it.  Her  nerv- 
ous system  has  become  accustomed  to  find  re- 
lief for  a  neurotic  condition  in  the  stimulating 
and  stupefying  effects  of  alcohol,  but  perhaps 
under  other  experiences  it  might  have  become 
habituated  to  other  modes  of  unnatural  satis- 
faction, or  to  relief  in  normal  activities,  which 
would  have  constituted  a  cure  of  the  nervous 
disorder. 

In  other  cases  the  unfortunate  effect  of  the 
popular  belief  in  the  organic  and  specific  na- 
ture of  the  craving  for  alcohol,  which  is  so  per- 

mental  change,  which  is  most  readily  secured  by  drinking  al- 
cohol. On  the  practical  side  dipsomania  is  of  chief  concern 
to  the  medical  specialist.  To  psychology  it  suggests  many  in- 
teresting problems.  Especially  its  rhythms  need  to  be  inter- 
preted with  reference  to  the  mental  and  physical  rhythms 
that  have  been  established  in  the  race.  The  next  step,  per- 
haps, in  the  study  of  this  mental  disorder  is  the  application 
of  such  methods  of  analysis  as  have  been  developed  by  the 
psychoanalysts.  Such  studies  could  hardly  fail  to  discover 
deep  roots  in  the  emotional  life,  and  would  no  doubt  throw 
light  upon  the  whole  problem  of  inebriety. 


152     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

sistently  enforced  upon  the  mind  of  the  drunk- 
ard by  people  who  are  trying  to  help  him,  is 
to  be  seen,  making  him  lose  hope,  and  in  some 
cases,  it  is  likely,  taking  away  the  possibility  of 
^cure. 

Further  evidence  that  the  longing  for  alco- 
hol is  a  complex  mental  attitude,  and  not  a  spe- 
cific craving,  is  to  be  found  in  the  manner  in 
which  many  inebriates  have  been  cured.  Cures 
by  religious  and  moral  conversion  are  of 
course  mental  in  nature.  They  cure  the  crav- 
ing for  drink  by  strongly  changing  the  life  in- 
terests, and  bringing  the  man  into  a  new  social 
environment,  away  from  drinking  companions : 
that  is,  by  substituting  abnormal  incitement  to 
a  state  of  pleasurable  and  intense  consciousness 
for  an  Abnormal  one.  Leuba  (60)  gives  in  de- 
tail several  cases  in  which  the  craving  for  drink 
was  removed  instantly  by  conversion.  From 
his  monograph  the  following  are  quoted : 

Man,  42.  Converted  when  thirty-throe.  Sometimes  drunk 
for  a  week  together.  Then  not  a  drop  for  a  whole  month. 
Never  went  more  than  a  month  but  once,  when  he  joined  the 
Good  Templars,  when  he  went  without  drink  for  three  months. 
He  experienced  sudden  conversion. 

"From  that  hour,"  he  says,  "drink  had  no  terrors  for  me. 
I  never  touch  it,  never  want  it." 

Another  says: 

"  I  believe  that  God  took  away  the  appetite  for  drink  that 
night  when  I  asked  him." 

A  man,  44.  Converted  in  1883.  Had  been  a  hard  drinker. 
Made  many  resolutions,  but  could  not  keep  them.  Had  a 


A  STUDY  OF  ABNORMAL  CASES  153 

sudden  sense  of  powerlessness,  experienced  conversion.     Con- 
version took  place  on  Sunday. 

"On  Monday,"  he  says,  "there  was  no  desire  for  drink. 
Since  that  day  I  have  not  had  to  surmount  strong  tempta- 
tions." 

Two  of  my  own  cases  show  well  the  method 
of  the  mental  cures  of  temperance,  and  indicate 
the  nature  of  the  craving. 

Case  27.  Man,  48.  The  first  drink  was  taken  at  eighteen, 
with  a  crowd.  The  drinking  habit  became  settled  at  twenty- 
eight.  Began  with  beer,  but  at  about  the  time  mentioned 
changed  to  heavier  drinks.  He  would  go  months  drinking 
everything,  and  then  stop  for  a  week  from  physical  incapacity 
to  drink  any  more.  He  drank  to  keep  up  an  exhilaration,  so 
that  he  could  do  more  work.  Drank  when  he  hated  the  taste 
of  liquor  and  could  hardly  get  it  down.  But  he  had  to  take 
it  in  order  to  appear  right.  Took  more  and  more  as  time 
went  on.  Before  he  was  thirty-eight  he  had  tried  several 
times  to  reform.  He  changed  his  residence,  but  it  did  no 
good.  He  always  drank  alone,  for  he  wished  no  one  to  know 
about  it.  He  never  stayed  in  a  saloon  longer  than  was  neces- 
sary to  get  what  he  came  for.  When  he  was  forty-four,  and 
after  a  season  of  hard  drinking,  his  wife  made  him  promise 
to  reform,  and  urged  him  to  become  converted.  He  had  al- 
ways scoffed  at  the  idea  that  a  change  of  heart  would  do  any 
good,  but  he  went  to  a  clergyman  and  told  him  he  would  sign 
a  pledge  for  a  year.  The  clergyman  would  not  accept  such  a 
pledge,  so  he  made  out  a  life  pledge,  and  signed  that.  He 
gave  his  wife  all  the  money  he  had  on  hand,  except  a  very 
little,  thinking  that  if  he  was  not  cured  he  would  buy  some 
liquor.  For  a  few  days  after  signing  the  pledge,  he  waa 
terribly  weak,  and  unable  to  act.  All  the  time  there  was  a 
craving  for  liquor.  He  knew  that  it  would  put  new  life  into 
him  and  make  him  act.  This  craving  was  cured  in  one  day, 
thus:  It  suddenly  occurred  to  him  that  he  was  not  more 
than  half  honest  in  the  matter,  so  he  went  to  his  wife  and 
gave  her  the  rest  of  his  money  and  confessed  his  intentions. 


\ 


154     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

As  soon  as  he  had  done  that  it  seemed  as  if  the  craving  had 
entirely  disappeared,  and  from  that  moment,  for  nearly  three 
years,  he  had  no  more  craving  for  alcohol.  His  health  was 
good,  he  worked  at  the  hardest  kind  of  work,  chopping  in 
the  woods,  and  so  far  as  he  knows,  felt  no  effects  of  his  hard 
drinking  after  the  first  two  weeks.  At  the  end  of  three  years, 
when  on  a  visit  at  a  summer  resort,  he  drank  two  glasses  of 
cider.  The  next  day  he  was  as  weak  as  ever.  He  found  out 
that  his  trouble  had  not  healed;  he  became  frightened,  fearing 
that  his  drink  habit  would  return  then  and  there,  and  started 
away  in  the  rain  to  walk  seven  miles  to  the  station,  intending 
to  go  home.  When  he  reached  the  first  house  he  stopped  and 
asked  for  a  drink,  and  got  it.  A  little  further  he  stopped 
again,  and  had  more.  Thus  commenced  a  downfall  more 
complete  than  the  first.  He  has  continued  drinking  up  to 
the  present  time.  It  is  now  necessary  for  him  to  have  alcohol 
to  make  him  think.  If  he  goes  a  day  without  it,  his  nerves 
seem  to  be  shattered.  He  could  not  add  a  column  of  figures 
unless  he  had  his  drink  in  the  morning.  Has  a  craving  for 
liquor  which  he  cannot  now  resist. 

To  test  these  statements  lie  agreed  to  sub- 
mit to  experiment.  He  was  tested  on  several 
days  as  to  ability  to  add  columns  of  figures  and 
in  other  simple  mental  operations.  On  four 
consecutive  days,  on  which  by  agreement,  he 
took  no  alcohol,  he  did  each  day  better  than  the 
day  before,  and  on  the  whole  much  better  than 
on  days  on  which  he  took  alcohol.  During  the 
abstinent  days  he  felt  no  craving  for  liquor, 
because  he  knew  he  was  to  have  none. 

Case  28.  Man  49.  Had  finished  college  at  eighteen  and 
went  to  work  in  a  bank.  At  twenty-two  he  began  to  drink 
steadily,  using  mostly  brandy  and  port  wine.  He  drank 
for  the  taste  of  the  liquor.  Was  a  member  of  clubs  and 
drank  at  socials.  He  Boon  began  to  use  liquors  to  excess,  and 


A  STUDY  OF  ABNORMAL  CASES  155 

drank  both  for  the  taste  and  the  feeling.  It  was  steady  drink- 
ing all  the  time,  and  altogether  in  company.  Later  he  drank 
alone,  but  never  to  get  drunk  alone.  There  was  hardly  a 
day  that  he  didn't  drink  excessively,  though  he  never  went  so 
far  as  extreme  intoxication.  The  last  two  years  of  his  drink- 
ing (from  42  to  44)  he  made  little  effort  to  control  his  appe- 
tite. He  kept  up  his  business,  and  did  better  work  after  he 
had  had  two  or  three  drinks.  He  was  doing  also  literary 
and  lecture  work  at  the  time,  and  always  drank  heavily  be- 
fore going  to  make  a  speech. 

He  stopped  drinking  at  the  age  of  forty-four.  Had  been 
to  a  social  at  a  club,  and  had  drunk  heavily  all  night.  In 
the  morning  as  he  was  walking  with  three  or  four  com- 
panions, it  suddenly  came  to  his  mind  that  he  was  leading  a 
useless  life,  and  he  told  the  men  he  was  with  that  he  wasn't 
going  to  drink  any  more.  They  laughed  at  him,  and  told 
him  he  couldn't  stop.  Drunk  as  he  was,  he  sat  down  and 
made  out  an  agreement  not  to  drink  any  more  from  that  day 
(April  14)  to  July  4.  This  he  agreed  to  sign  if  one  of  the 
others  would.  One  agreed,  so  he  signed  the  paper  and  gave  it 
to  his  friend.  With  the  remark  that  so  long  as  he  had  the 
agreement  he  thought  he  wouldn't  sign  it  himself,  the  com- 
panion put  it  into  his  pocket  without  signing  it.  This  angered 
him  and  he  determined  to  keep  the  agreement  whether  the 
other  man  did  or  not.  He  drank  no  more  that  day,  and  left 
the  men  and  went  home,  feeling  sick.  He  went  to  a  doctor 
and  told  him  what  he  had  done.  The  doctor  told  him  he 
must  leave  off  by  degrees  or  it  would  kill  him.  But  he  refused 
to  drink.  After  a  week  there  was  no  craving,  and  he  refused, 
liquor  ten  times  a  day  at  least,  for  the  next  six  months.  He 
has  never  drunk  since,  now  four  years.  Very  frequently  now 
he  goes  into  a  saloon  with  friends,  but  always  calls  for  non- 
alcoholic drinks.  The  odor  and  sight  of  liquor  arouse  in  him 
no  craving  whatever.  He  has  noticed  that  since  he  stopped 
drinking  he  cares  less  for  the  society  of  men,  and  feels  that 
in  a  way  his  social  feeling  is  weakened. 

In  other  forms  of  cure  of  inebriety  the  princi- 
ple is  psychic.  Most  of  the  inebriates'  homes 


156     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

depend  upon  moral  influence  and  social  environ- 
ment. The  principle  of  such  a  cure  as  the  Kee- 
ley  Cure  seems  largely,  if  not  altogether,  psy- 
chic. In  the  methods  used  by  regular  practi- 
tioners reliance  is  placed  upon  moral  influence, 
and  general  toning  of  the  nervous  system. 
Some  methods  make  use  of  physical  means. 
Some  merely  substitute  drugs  which  have  an  ef- 
fect similar  to  alcohol.  In  some  cases  emetics 
are  given  with  alcohol  in  such  a  way  as  to  create 
a  strong  association  between  the  taste  of  alco- 
hol, and  the  memory  of  the  nausea.  But  such 
cures  are  makeshifts  and  do  not  reach  the 
bottom  of  the  trouble. 

Evidence  from  our  cases  and  other  data  show 
that  the  craving  for  alcohol  or  intoxication,  and 
the  type  of  social  interest  which  accompanies 
it,  or  of  which  it  is  a  part,  is  not  a  craving  of 
early  youth.  It  does  not  as  a  rule  show  itself 
in  school  days.  But  when  a  boy  goes  to  college, 
or  when  he  leaves  school  and  comes  under  the 
influence  of  older  men,  the  drink  habit  is  likely 
to  be  commenced.  In  some  cases  in  which  the 
first  drink  was  taken  early,  perhaps  at  nine  or 
ten,  the  real  history  of  the  case  does  not  begin 
until  long  afterward.  In  almost  every  case  the 
beginning  of  drinking  was  social.  In  but  two 
instances  was  the  first  drink  taken  alone. 
Below  is  printed  a  table  showing  the  age  at 


A  STUDY  OF  ABNORMAL  CASES  157 


which  the  first  glass  was  taken  in  sixty-five 
cases. 


Number 

Number 

Number 

Age. 

Of  CilMV. 

Age. 

of  cases. 

Age. 

of  cases. 

9 

1 

20 

6 

31 

0 

10 

1 

21 

1 

!       32 

0 

11 

1 

22 

5 

33 

0 

12 

2 

23 

0 

34 

1 

13 

0 

24 

1 

35 

1 

14 

5 

25 

3 

36 

0 

15 

6 

26 

2 

37 

0 

16 

10 

27 

2 

38 

0 

17 

8 

28 

0 

39 

1 

IS 

5 

29 

0 

40 

1 

19 

1 

30 

1 

Table  showing  when  the  first  drink  was  taken  in  sixty-five 
cases. 

Below  are  tabulated  498  cases  of  inebriety 
with  reference  to  the  time  when  the  drinking 
habit  was  formed.  This  does  not  refer  to  the 
time  when  the  first  drink  was  taken,  but  when 
more  or  less  regular  drinking  began. 

By  referring  to  the  tables  one  will  see  that 
among  the  sixty-five  cases  more  took  the  first 
drink  at  the  age  of  sixteen  than  at  any  other 
time,  and  from  the  larger  table  the  fact  is  ob- 
tained that  at  twenty  the  habit  of  drink  is  most 
often  established;  and  that  there  is  a  second 
danger  period  in  the  early  thirties.  Parrish  (61 ) 
says  that  the  drink  habit  does  not  declare 
itself  until  the  demands  upon  the  nervous  sys- 
tem come  to  be  exorbitant,  and  that  its  terminal 


158     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 


Age. 

Number  of  Cases. 

Age. 

Number  of  Cases. 

Males. 

Females. 

Males. 

Females. 

10 

2 

0 

33 

10 

5 

11 

0 

0 

34 

8 

4 

12 

4 

0 

35 

9 

2 

13 

6 

0 

36 

3 

2 

14 

8 

0 

37 

2 

2 

15 

26 

0 

38 

2 

0 

16 

14 

2 

39 

1 

4 

17 

19 

0 

40 

3 

0 

18 

35 

1 

41 

1 

0 

19 

18 

2 

42 

2 

1 

20 

50 

3 

43 

1 

1 

21 

29 

0 

44 

2 

2 

22 

32 

2 

45 

2 

0 

23 

21 

1 

46 

1 

1 

24 

22 

0 

47 

1 

0 

25 

17 

4 

48 

2 

0 

26 

14 

3 

49 

5 

1 

27 

16 

2 

50 

3 

0 

28 

13 

3 

51 

1 

0 

29 

8 

1 

52 

1 

0 

30 

20 

5 

53 

0 

0 

81 

4 

0 

54 

2                 ; 

0 

32 

3 

1 

Table  showing  the  age  at  which  drinking  was  established  in 
498  cases  (02). 

period  comes  with  as  much  certainty  as  does  its 
initial  stage.  He  thinks  that  there  is  an  ine- 
briate climacteric  in  every  life  when  nervous 
periodicities  become  faint,  when  internal  and 
external  excitants  to  intoxication  lose  much  of 
their  vigour,  and  the  inebriate  diathesis  is  too 
feeble  to  respond  to  excitation.  Between  forty 
and  fifty  a  great  number  of  spontaneous  recov- 
eries occur,  and  about  twenty-five  years  closes 
the  drinking  period,  either  by  exhaustion  of  the 
desire  or  by  death. 

Our    Case    28    is    an    illustration    of    this 
exhaustion  or  sudden  cessation  of  the  drink  im- 


A  STUDY  OF  ABNORMAL  CASES  159 

pulse  from  apparently  inadequate  cause.  In 
this  case  the  subject  testifies  to  a  weakening 
of  the  social  sense.  Crothers  (63)  says  that 
there  are  periods,  from  seventeen  to  twenty- 
five,  and  from  thirty  to  forty,  in  which  the  lia-  / 
bility  to  contract  the  drink  habit  is  greatest;  ** 
and  that  it  is  most  likely  to  die  out  between 
forty-five  and  fifty,  or  from  fifty-eight  to  sixty- 
two.  What  the  significance  of  the  second 
period  in  each  case  may  be  is  not  clear.  The 
period  from  seventeen  to  twenty-five  is  the 
adolescent  stage  when  craving  for  an  abundant 
life  is  strongest,  and  is  most  likely  to  become 
perverted  or  diseased.  The  intoxication  im- 
pulses that  are  a  part  of  the  temperament  of 
adolescence  are  then  most  powerful,  and  are 
most  capable  of  direction  into  normal  channels. 
The  period  from  forty-five  to  fifty  is  the  period 
of  the  decline  of  these  impulses  because  it  is 
a  time  of  lessening,  both  in  man  and  woman, 
of  the  temperament  based  upon  the  procreative 
life.  Sexual  impulse  need  not  disappear,  but  | 
the  dynamic  power  of  this  instinct  wanes;  it  | 
no  longer  creates  force  to  drive  the  enthusiasms ; 
and  the  individual  must  depend  upon  habits 
formed  earlier  in  life  to  carry  on  his  enter- 
prises. He  enters  upon  a  period  of  perfected 
self-control,  and  habits  of  drinking  and  other 
habits  become  manageable  to  a  greater  extent 
than  before.  Conversion  of  drunkards,  ac- 


160     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEKANCE 

cording  to  Superintendent  Hadley  of  the  Mc- 
Auley  Mission  in  New  York  City,  is  less  likely 
to  be  accomplished  after  fifty.  If  habit  is  not 
checked  with  the  normal  waning  of  the  social 
and  sexual  life  it  is  likely  to  run  on  to  the  end 
of  life,  and  to  be  morbid  in  character,  to  a 
greater  extent  than  perhaps  a  much  more  vio- 
lent and  persistent  intoxication  impulse  which 
culminates  and  closes  earlier.  Dr.  Brain twaite, 
(64)  Superintendent  of  the  Dalrymple  Home 
in  England,  says  that  most  of  the  cures  are 
accomplished  by  forty-five,  though  certainly 
many  cases  do  well  under  treatment  even  as 
late  as  fifty-five  or  sixty.  The  younger  cases 
are  most  unsatisfactory.  "Very  few  indeed," 
he  says, '  i  succeed  in  getting  right  under  twenty- 
five  or  twenty-six."  If  the  physiological  basis 
of  the  drink  impulse  is  an  *  *  alcoholised  pro- 
toplasm, ' '  as  some  think,  it  is  difficult  to  account 
for  such  facts.  The  opposite  would  be  expected. 
The  body  but  slightly  habituated  to  the  effect 
of  alcohol  would  throw  off  the  craving  for  it 
more  easily  than  one  which  has  been  subjected 
to  a  course  of  poisoning  for  many  years;  and 
would  feel  less  the  craving  for  it  afterwards, 
and  would  be  in  less  danger  of  returning  to  the 
habit.  But  such  is  not  the  case. 

These  facts  show  conclusively,  at  least  for 
\  the  range  of  cases  studied,  that  drinking  is 
^strongest  as  a  habit  during  the  most  active 


A  STUDY  OF  ABNORMAL  CASES  161 

decades  of  a  man's  life.  It  is  not  a  steadily 
increasing  habit  perpetuated  by  the  effect  upon 
the  body  of  the  assaults  of  alcohol,  but  it  is 
mentally  determined  and  runs  parallel  to,  or  is 
at  least  conditioned  by,  the  great  movements  of 
energy  of  the  organism,  which  underlie  all  the 
enthusiasms  and  interests  of  life.  It  runs 
through  the  active  years  and  then  tends  to  de- 
cline. 

This  is  not  equally  true,  however,  of  all  the 
motives  for  drinking,  and  it  is  possible  that  the 
later  periods  mentioned  by  Crothers  corre- 
spond to  periods  in  the  development  of  what 
we  have  called  the  narcotic  motives  for  drink- 
ing. When  life  begins  to  lose  its  charm,  and 
the  "shades  of  the  prison-house"  close  in,  and  I 
the  first  realisation  comes  that  the  future  is  to  J 
be  an  outcome  of  the  past,  which  is  likely  to 
happen  in  the  early  thirties,  the  motive  for 
narcosis  comes  in.  There  is  evidence  that  in 
both  sexes  the  time  of  the  early  thirties  is  crit- 
ical. It  is  the  age  at  which  many  breakdowns 
occur,  when  other  habits  besides  the  use  of 
intoxicants  may  for  the  first  time  appear. 
Whether  the  second  period  of  greatest  chance 
of  recovery  mentioned  by  Crothers  (65)  (from 
fifty-eight  to  sixty- two),  is  the  time  when  these 
narcotic  motives  are  likely  to  cease  is  not  clear, 
whether  with  the  senescent  blunting  of  the  emo- 
tions the  acuteness  of  pain  is  diminished,  and 


162     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

there  is  no  longer  the  craving  to  turn  the  edge 
of  distress  by  artificial  means. 

All  such  facts  of  course  have  an  important 
bearing  upon  the  theory  of  the  intoxication  im- 
pulse, and  upon  the  practical  problem  of  the  con- 
trol and  cure  of  drinking  and  inebriety,  both  in 
individual    cases    and    in    its    social    aspects. 
When  we  legislate  against  the  use  of  alcohol 
we  should  do  so  with  the  knowledge  that  we  are 
enacting  laws  against  an  impulse  which  is  a 
part  of  the  virile  and  normal  periods  of  man's 
life,  that  it  is  a  vice  in  many  ways  based  upon 
power  and  virtue.    We  are  combating  a  strong 
force  in  human  life;  and  it  may  turn  out  that 
direct  opposition  is  the  least  effective  of  the 
methods  of  controlling  it.     Such  conclusions  or 
forecasts  are  strengthened  by  recalling  the  fact 
that  alcoholic  intoxication  has  been  in  the  past 
expressive  of  periods  of  racial  growth.     The 
abnormal    and    immoral    expressions    of    this 
growth  force,  though  none  the  less  to  be  con- 
demned and  fought  against  because  of  their 
origin  and  their  relation  to  normal  growth, 
must  be  stemmed  by  methods  that  take  into 
account  in  their  modus  operandi  the  nature  of 
the  impulses  upon  which  they  are  based.    How 
strong  the  intoxication  impulse  may  be,  how 
firmly  rooted  in  the  social  life  of  a  man,  how 
closely  related  to  all  his  interests,  how  per- 
sistently suggested  by  all  his  associations  in 


A  STUDY  OF  ABNOKMAL  CASES     163 

life,  has  been  shown,  it  is  hoped,  by  the  review 
of  cases  and  the  interpretations  of  them  made 
in  this  chapter.  But  before  undertaking  to 
look  into  the  practical  questions  which  spring 
up  on  all  sides  from  such  a  study  of  intoxication 
motives,  it  will  be  well  to  see  what  theories 
about  the  nature  of  drinking  have  been  pro- 
pounded from  time  to  time ;  and  in  general  how 
the  facts  have  been  interpreted. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   THEORIES   OF   THE   INTOXICATION   IMPULSE 

IT  would  be  surprising  if  an  impulse  so  deep- 
seated  in  man  as  the  intoxication  impulse,  so 
profoundly  connected  with  so  many  of  his  ac- 
tivities and  with  his  deepest  pleasures  and 
pains,  had  not  aroused  much  thought  and 
theory,  popular  belief  and  scientific  enquiry. 
There  is,  indeed,  a  vast  amount  of  published 
opinion  about  alcohol  and  its  use,  some  thought- 
ful and  temperate,  some  fanatical  and  absurd-, 
but  all  interesting.  It  would  be  quite  impossible 
to  put  into  a  chapter  a  review  of  all  that  has 
been  said,  but  some  main  types  of  opinion  and 
theory  may  be  mentioned — enough  to  show  the 
range  of  points  of  view,  and  especially  to  indi- 
cate the  practical  attitudes  that  have  been  de- 
rived from  them. 

A  prevailing  opinion  about  the  use  of  alcohol, 
one  which  makes  up  the  philosophy  of  many 
temperance  workers,  is  that  intoxication  and 
\  indeed  all  desire  for  alcoholic  drinks,  is  a  sin, 
and  that  it  requires  no  explanation.  Man  has 
fallen  from  a  state  of  primitive  virtue  and  has 
wilfully  accepted  or  sought  habits  that  he 

164 


THEORIES  OF  THE  IMPULSE      165 

knows  by  an  infallible  inner  conscience  to  be 
wrong,  and  displeasing  to  God;  or  wrong  be- 
cause displeasing  to  God.  This  view  asserts 
that  the  drunkard  is  what  he  is  because  he  is 
not  willing  to  be  anything  else;  or  because  he 
is  not  willing  to  seek  the  strength  from  Above 
which  would  take  away  his  sin.  In  an  extreme 
form  this  v\ew  declares  that  every  man's  con- 
science tells  him  that  any  drinking  of  alcoholic 
drinks  is  sinful,  and  is  desired  because  it  is  a 
sin. 

In  the  popular  mind,  too,  representing  the 
other  side  of  the  argument,  is  the  opinion  that 
moderate  drinking  at  least  is  not  a  sin  but  is 
allowable,  satisfying  a  natural  thirst  or  crav- 
ing, akin  to  a  normal  appetite  for  food,  or  for 
any  drink.  Varying  with  locality  and  class  of 
society  is  the  opinion  that  a  slight  "elevation," 
or  an  occcasional  excess,  is  also  morally  allow- 
able, and  dictated  by  a  man 's  natural  desire  for 
pleasure.  Whether  anyone  morally  justifies 
habitual  excess,  or  finds  in  it  an  expression 
of  a  normal  motive,  is  doubtful.  Aside  from 
social  ideals  there  seems  to  be  an  inner  feeling 
which  disapproves  of  excessive  drinking,  and 
if  it  does  not  regard  it  as  sin  it  at  least  con- 
demns it  as  abnormal,  because  it  conflicts 
with  purposes  now  recognised  as  the  highest. 
However  hard  a  drinker  a  man  may  be,  he 
reserves  a  contempt  for  the  one  more  given 


166     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

to  excess  than  himself,  the  habitual,  solitary 
drinker,  who  drinks  to  intoxication  or  stupefac- 
tion, being  at  the  bottom  of  this  social  scale. 
Coming  now  to  the  theories  of  literary  and 
scientific  writers,  there  are  many  points  of 
view,  and  many  conflicting  opinions.  Nordau 
(66)  says  that  the  craving  for  alcohol  is  a 
longing  for  relief  from  pain  and  an  expression 
of  a  need  for  stimulation,  there  being  a  general 
condition  of  neurasthenia,  especially  noticeable 
in  the  upper  classes  of  society,  and  due  to  the 
fatigue  caused  by  the  sudden  incoming  of 
machinery,  rapid  transit,  and  exciting  occupa- 
tions. We  have  seen  that  this  is  certainly  not 
an  adequate  explanation  of  the  intoxication  im- 
pulses; Nordau  has  singled  out  one,  the  less 
important,  of  two  motives. 

Lett  (67)  asks,  "Why  do  men  drink?"  and 
gives  much  the  same  answer  as  Nordau,  "Be- 
cause there  is  pain.    The  healthy  man  has  no 
pain  and  needs  no  stimulant.    One  kind  of  pain, 
.,  unrest,  is  the  outcome  of  an  unstable  nervous 
"  organism.    Disquietude,  unrest,  pain,  are  the 

causes  of  drinking. " 

3  A  very  different  view  comes  from  a  recent 
writer,  Starke,  (°8)  who  sees  in  the  use  of  alco- 
hol a  normal  appetite,  and  a  normal  craving  for 
a  certain  mental  effect.  In  the  first  place,  in 
Starke 's  opinion,  alcohol  is  a  food;  it  is  burned 
in  the  body  and  produces  heat,  and  can  there- 


THEORIES  OF  THE  IMPULSE  167 

fore  be  used  in  place  of  other  food,  its  action  be- 
ing like  that  of  the  carbohydrates.  But  alcohol 
also  has  an  effect  which  can  be  called  a  stimu- 
lation of  the  ego.  It  arouses  temperament,  sen- 
timent, talents,  and  intellectual  appetites.  It 
excites  the  personal,  intimate  self  and  brings 
out  in  a  man  that  which  he  essentially  is. 
With  this  mental  effect  goes  a  physiological 
effect  which  is  also  hygienic,  and  increasingly 
so  as  society  becomes  more  strenuous  in  its 
demands  upon  the  powers  of  the  central  nerv- 
ous system.  It  diminishes  the  sharpness  of  the 
assault  of  the  external  world  upon  the  nervous 
system,  reduces  the  quantity  of  blood  in  the  in- 
ternal organs,  and  increases  the  quantity  in  the 
surface.  This  is  precisely  an  undoing  of  the 
effects  of  strong  voluntary  effort,  which  we 
need  to  escape,  and  is  therefore  a  welcome  ad- 
dition to  our  hygienic  means  of  compensating 
the  strenuous  life.  In  its  effect,  alcohol  is  ex- 
actly the  opposite  of  that  of  tea  and  coffee. 
These  increase  the  quantity  of  blood  in  the 
internal  organs,  increase  the  mental  tension, 
and  sharpen'  the  external  and  mechanical  men- 
tal life.  The  effects  of  alcohol  are  much  the 
same,  finally,  as  normal  sleep.  It  has  not  the 
power  of  creating  in  the  body  a  demand  for  it- 
self, and  of  alcoholising  the  tissues  so  that  more 
and  more  is  required  to  produce  the  normal 
effects  of  stimulation.  The  craving  for  excess, 


168     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

he  maintains,  is  quite  different.  It  is  a  demand 
for  stupefaction,  for  relief  from  pain,  and  is 
morbid,  in  its  extreme  forms  a  disease.  Such 
is  Starke's  view. 

Whether  this  is  a  correct  statement  of  the 
physiological  action  of  alcohol  would  be  open 
to  doubt.  But  that  desire  for  stimulation  of 
the  ego,  or  an  effect  which  could  be  somewhat 
similarly  described,  is  the  central  motive 
of  intoxication,  we  have  already  seen  to  be 
true.  Whether  it  is  right  and  proper  to  select 
this  particular  means  of  stimulating  the  ego, 
is  another  question.  And  whether  the  re- 
laxation needed  in  the  present  strenuous  life 
demands  the  use  of  alcohol  as  a  necessity,  as  he 
says,  or  whether  some  more  natural  means  of 
counteracting  strain  and  tension  should  be 
sought,  is  also  a  problem — a  broad  question,  de- 
manding an  understanding  of  many  interests 
and  ideals.  It  cannot  at  least  be  solved  en- 
tirely by  a  discovery  of  the  specific  function  of 
alcohol  itself. 

As  regards  the  nature  of  the  craving  for  al- 
cohol, whether  it  is  an  instinctive  desire,  or  a 
craving  acquired  by  the  individual,  there  are 
many  diverse  opinions.  Thomann,  for  ex- 
ample, says  that  the  desire  for  alcoholic  bever- 
ages is  generally  a  physical  desire,  an  animal 
lust.  Baer  asserts  that  this  craving  is  not  an 
instinctive  but  an  acquired  craving.  Gustaf- 


THEOKIES  OP  THE  IMPULSE  169 

son  says  that  the  desire  for  alcohol  is  not  an 
instinctive  habit,  but  it  is  a  habit  that  is  be- 
coming instinctive,  a  form  of  depraved  second 
nature.  Braintwaite  says  that  drunkards  are 
made  by  the  effect  of  alcohol  upon  unformed 
and  developing  tissue,  especially  cerebral  tissue. 
Hughes  says  that  the  drink  craving  is  a  patho- 
logical perversion  of  physiological  cell  action, 
and  lies  in  the  realm  of  the  cerebral  cortex. 

Day  (69)  says,  "That  there  is  an  organic  ap- 
petite for  brain  stimulants  which,  if  not  origi- 
nally so,  has  become  organic  through  unknown 
ages  of  indulgence  common  to  man,  is  beyond 
dispute.  This  appetite  does  not  anticipate  for 
its  gratification  more  than  the  primary  or  stim- 
ulating effects  of  the  drugs  used.  It  is  through 
this  appetite  that  the  system  is  often  exposed 
to  an  unexpected  and  undesired  effect  of  the 
drugs  used,  and  a  painful  condition  of  the  body 
induced  by  such  unintentional  excess,  which 
can  in  no  other  way  be  so  speedily  and  effec- 
tually relieved  temporarily  as  by  the  repetition 
of  the  excess  itself,  by  renewed  stimulation  of 
the  organs  suffering,  or  by  an  obliteration  of 
sense  by  a  more  complete  narcosis  than  was  at 
first  intended. " 

Danielewski  (70)  says  that  civilised  man  has 
used  alcohol  so  extensively,  and  for  so  long  a 
time,  that  one  may  with  certainty  affirm  the 
existence  of  an  alcoholised  protoplasm  among 


170     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

drinkers,  just  as  one  finds  morphinised  pro- 
toplasm in  cases  of  chronic  intoxication  with 
morphine.  ,!The  organism_can  no  longer  do 
without  it.  Hence  it  follows  that  the  complex 
of~protoplasm  and  albuminoids  is  adaptable; 
that  it  is  not  incapable  of  being  disturbed  in  its 
fundamental  properties,  and  that  it  is  recon- 
structed with  difficulty. 

The  supposition  of  all  those  who  believe  in  a 
specific  for  the  cure  of  the  craving  for  alcohol 
is  that  it  is  a  physical  appetite  that  can  be  de- 
stroyed by  drugs.  A  statement  of  the  views 
of  a  single  one  of  these  will  be  sufficient  to  illus- 
trate the  medical  theories  of  this  type.  It  is 
the  theory  of  a  specialist  in  the  cure  of  drunken- 
ness in  a  large  American  city,  expressed  to  me 
in  conversation.  He  has  two  specific  remedies, 
one  to  remove  the  neurasthenic  condition  which 
he  says  is  present  in  all  cases  of  inebriety,  and 
another  to  remove  the  craving  for  alcohol. 
With  these  he  claims  to  cure  men  of  all  ages, 
in  any  stage  of  the  disease;  and  to  establish 
such  a  normal  condition  of  body  and  mind  that, 
although  they  may  drink  again,  they  will  never 
drink  again  from  necessity,  or  because  they  are 
victims  of  an  appetite,  but  only  from  choice. 
He  maintains  that  the  craving  for  alcohol,  and 
the  desire  for  stimulants  of  other  kinds,  such  as 
hasheesh,  morphine  and  chloral,  are  expres- 
sions of  one  and  the  same  disease ;  they  all  have 


THEORIES  OF  THE  IMPULSE     171 

their  roots  in  a  neurasthenic  condition.  Other 
cravings,  such  as  a  passion  for  strong  electrical 
stimulation,  are  of  the  same  nature,  the  ex- 
pressions of  a  lowered  nervous  tone,  and  a 
desire  for  something  which  will  create  activity 
in  inactive  organs. 

This,  or  something  like  it,  is  the  view  that  is 
at  the  bottom  of  those  methods,  often  adver- 
tised, of  curing  the  drunkard  without  his  knowl- 
edge, by  administering  specifics  of  one  kind  or 
another  in  his  coffee  or  tea.  They  assume  that 
there  is  a  specific  condition  of  the  nervous 
system  that  can  be  reached  and  corrected  by 
an  equally  specific  remedy  which  will,  perhaps, 
change  the  character  of  the  diseased  proto- 
plasm, or  correct  the  condition  of  the  brain, 
whatever  it  may  be,  which  registers  itself  in 
the  mind  as  a  craving  for  alcohol.  That  these 
views  are  wrong,  or  at  least  have  a  very 
limited  application,  all  the  facts  that  we  have 
presented  quite  sufficiently  prove.  Whatever 
the  craving  for  alcohol  may  be,  it  is  not  a 
condition  of  the  body  craving  for  alcohol  as 
a  specific  remedy  for  that  condition.  It  is  an 
organised  habit,  with  psychical  elements,  and  a 
history  in  the  life  of  the  individual  connected 
with  his  other  interests  and  impulses.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  immediate  effects  can  be  pro- 
duced upon  the  appetite  for  drink  by  various 
drugs ;  and  that  when  the  craving  which  comes 


172     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

from  immediately  preceding  excessive  drinking 
is  so  imperative,  various  remedies  have  a  tem- 
porary effect.  These  remedies,  too,  when  re- 
inforced by  suggestions,  by  isolation,  and  by 
control  of  the  social  life  may  effect  a  cure ;  but 
it  is  wrong  to  suppose  that  a  drug  can  reach 
the  heart  of  the  intoxication  impulse.  It  would 
be  quite  as  reasonable  to  treat  a  man  by  merely 
physical  remedies  for  a  bad  temper,  or  for 
being  in  love.  Something  might  be  accom- 
plished in  both  such  cases,  but  the  root  of  the 
trouble  would  hardly  be  thus  reached. 

Upon  another  point  connected  with  the  ques- 
tion of  a  specific  craving  for  alcohol  induced 
by  the  action  of  alcohol  itself,  we  have  an  in- 
teresting view  from  Forel,  (71)  whose  authority 
is  so  high  in  matters  pertaining  to  the  nervous 
system  that  he  must  be  respectfully  heard.  He 
writes, 

"We  do  not  think  that  man  could  ever  adapt  himself  to  the 
use  of  alcohol  and  narcotics,  so  that  they  would  cease  to 
hurt  him,  for  the  following  reasons:  Experience  teaches  that 

(1)  the   general   drinking   and   narcotic   customs   incessantly 
augment  the  production  and  the  consumption,  that  is,  increase 
the  daily  doses   which   every  man  consumes   in  the   average. 

(2)  The  craving  which  alcohol  and  all  other  narcotics  pro- 
duce drives  to  such  augmentation  with  peculiar  force  where 
severe   laws    do   not   counteract.     (3)   Alcohol,    and    probably 
also  all   other  narcotics   poison  not  only  the   individual   but 
also  his  sperm,  the  germ  of  his  descendants.     (4)   The  progeny 
of  alcoholists,  according  to  experience,  are  especially  exposed 
to  mental  degeneration  and  to  drinking  excesses.     Their  re- 


THEOKIES  OF  THE  IMPULSE     173 

sistibility  against  alcoholic  liquors  is  never  raised,  rather  very 
much  diminished." 

This  raises  the  question  to  what  extent  the 
craving  for  alcohol,  having  been  created  in  an 
individual  by  the  effect  of  alcohol  upon  him, 
can  be  transmitted  to  his  offspring,  as  such, 
and  thus  produce  a  direct  craving  for  it  in  the 
lives  of  an  increasing  number  of  people.  That  / 
a  specific  craving  for  alcohol  is  ever  trans-  / 
mitted  as  such  seems  entirely  unproved,  and 
unlikely.  And  Forel  does  not  insist  that  it  is, 
though  others  do.  Alcoholic  excess  in  the  par- 
ent seemingly  does  affect  the  offspring  delete- 
riously,  and  it  is  likely  that  it  is  the  cause  of 
several  diseases  now  well  recognised.  But  its 
effect  is  rather  by  weakening  the  germ  in  a  f 
general  way  than  by  the  transmission  of  a 
craving  for  alcohol.  Whatever  weakens  the 
germ  makes  it  more  difficult  for  the  offspring  / 
to  pass  successfully  through  the  growth  stages, 
more  likely  to  be  affected  by  all  external  influ- 
ences, and  to  acquire  early  in  life  such  abnormal 
conditions  of  body  and  mind  as  will  lead  to  the 
habit  of  drink,  especially  through  the  narcotic 
motive.  But  that  drinking  by  the  parent  can 
cause  in  the  child  a  craving  for  alcohol  as  such, 
because  the  germ  has  been  alcoholised,  or  that 
the  love  of  alcohol  acquired  by  the  parent  as  a 
mental -craving  can  be  transmitted  to  the  child, 
seems  very  unlikely,  if  not  quite  impossible. 


174     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

"We  shall  return  to  this  point  in  another  para- 
graph. 

There  are  many  theories  of  the  craving  for 
alcohol  that  take  into  account  the  psychological 
factors.  In  an  article  in  the  University  Mag- 
azine entitled  The  Philosophy  of  Stimulants  an 
anonymous  writer  expresses  the  view  that  stim- 
ulants and  narcotics  are  used  because  they  in- 
tensify consciousness;  they  make  wider  vari- 
ations in  life;  our  pleasures  and  pains  are  too 
evenly  distributed,  and  it  is  a  matter  of  instinct 
with  us  that  we  try  to  summate  them. 

Moxon  (72)  says  that  alcohol  weakens  com-    i 
mon  sense  in  its  opposition  to  individual  sense. >/ 
The  power  of  alcohol  in  the  world  is  that  it 
keeps  down  the  oppressive  powers  of  others  and 
their  common  sense  over  the  individual  sense. 
Alcohol  raises  a  man's  individuality  tempora- 
rily. 

Monin  (73)  says  that  in  proportion  as  civili- 
sation perfects  itself  man  seeks  in  drunkenness 
a  compensation  for,  and  a  forgetfulness  of,  the 
weariness  and  chagrin  which  result  from  his 
daily  struggle  for  existence. 

In  all  such  views  one  may  detect  partial 
truths.  Intoxicants  do  make  wider  variations 
in  the  emotional  life;  they  do  increase  individ- 
uality, and  reduce  certain  relations  among  men 
to  a  minimum,  though  they  increase  others ;  and 
they  do  satisfy  a  narcotic  motive  aroused  by 


THEORIES  OF  THE  IMPULSE     175 

pain  and  fatigue.  But  no  one  of  these  views, 
nor  all  together,  approximates  the  whole  truth. 
Beard  (7I)  asks,  "Why  does  man,  so  much 
higher  than  the  animals  in  every  respect,  alone 
possess  the  vice  of  intemperance?  What 
makes  us  differ  from  them?"  and  answers, 
"Mainly  our  nervous  system.  Man  has  a 
larger,  fuller,  richer  brain  than  the  lower  ani- 
mals, and  stimulants  and  narcotics  chiefly  affect 
the  brain ;  therefore  man  craves  for  them,  finds 
rest  and  negative  food  and  pleasure  in  them, 
and  thus  often  becomes  their  slave.  The  horse 
does  not  care  for  alcohol  for  the  same  reason 
that  it  does  not  care  for  philosophy,  because 
its  brain  is  not  capable  of  appreciating  it." 
His  interesting  view  we  shall  quote  somewhat 
further : 

"The  most  enlightened  nations  of  our  time  are  Great  Britain, 
Germany,  and  the  United  States,  and  in  these  countries  stimu- 
lants are  used  in  the  greatest  abundance  and  the  widest  va- 
riety. Next  to  these  nations  in  order  of  enlightenment  and 
in  order  of  indulgence  in  these  substances  are  France,  Russia, 
Norway,  Sweden,  Italy,  and  Spain.  The  semicivilised  na- 
tions, as  Turkey,  Syria,  India,  China,  Japan,  South  America, 
and  Mexico,  use  some  varieties  to  considerable  excess,  but 
have  not  so  many  varieties,  and  do  not,  on  the  whole,  use  as 
great  a  quantity  of  stimulants  and  narcotics  as  the  nations 
who  are  at  the  head  of  civilisation.  The  purely  barbarous 
races  and  tribes  use  at  most  but  one  or  two  varieties,  and  as  a 
rule,  to  but  little  excess.  Africa  seems  to  have  used  less  than 
any  other  continent. 

"In  civilisation  the  expenditure  of  force  is  vastly  greater 
than  in  barbarism,  because  the  brain,  especially,  is  more 


176     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

active.  To  compensate  for  this  expenditure,  to  retard  the 
waste  of  tissue,  or  at  least  to  sustain  the  body  amid  the  cares, 
toils,  and  pressure  incident  to  advanced  civilisation  men  re- 
sort, not  only  to  more  liberal  and  abundant  variety  of  food 
than  the  savages  use,  but  also  must  employ  a  wider  range 
of  stimulants  and  narcotics.  It  would  seem  that  the  use  of 
stimulants  and  narcotics  in  general  has  increased  with  the 
advance  of  the  race.  In  general,  also,  the  higher  civilised 
races  use  stronger  liquors  and  more  abundantly,  and  since 
in  the  lower  races  there  is  less  moral  and  other  restraint,  we 
must  conclude  that  they  are  not  tempted  to  drink  to  excess, 
that  they  do  not  enjoy  the  exciting  effects  of  the  stimulants 
as  do  the  northerners.  There  is  ten  times  as  much  intoxica- 
tion in  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  as  there  is  in 
Germany  and  France.  There  is  far  more  of  the  grosser  type. 
This  difference  is  due  primarily,  probably,  to  difference  in 
environment,  climate,  et«.,  and  only  secondarily  to  difference 
in  race.  The  English,  the  Germans,  and  the  Americans  are 
of  all  people  the  most  energetic.  Associated  with  this  courage 
and  vigour  is  a  powerful  development  of  some  of  the  lower 
passions.  They  are  fond  of  eating  and  drinking,  and  although 
less  licentious,  less  artful  than  the  French,  Italian,  and  Span- 
ish, they  are  more  addicted  to  coarse  and  brutal  crimes. 
Coarse  crimes  and  drunkenness  are  twigs  growing  on  the 
same  stem. 

"Drunkenness  and  the  amount  of  liquor  consumed  in  a  given 
country  are  independent  variables,  England  uses  more  liquor, 
in  various  forms,  than  America,  but  it  has  less  drunkenness. 
In  France  the  consumption  of  liquor  is  very  great,  but  the 
French  are  by  no  means  a  grossly  intemperate  people.  The 
explanation  of  this  paradox  is  that  national  intemperance  does 
not  result  so  much  from  widely  diffused  habits  of  drinking,  as 
from  great  excess  among  a  limited  number.  The  poor  and 
ignorant  classes  among  civilised  nations  are  most  given  to 
intoxication.  They  are  brought  into  the  presence  of  the  same 
variety  of  stimulants  as  the  higher  classes,  and  they  have  less 
moral  control.  Woman,  everywhere,  uses  less  intoxicants  than 
man,  not  so  much  because  her  moral  force  is  greater,  but  be- 
cause she  has  less  desire  for  the  effects  of  stimulation." 


THEORIES  OF  THE  IMPULSE     177 

Beard  makes  much  of  the  result  of  climate  in  / 
determining  the  difference  of  drinking  habits 
in  different  nations.  The  effect  of  climate  is 
to  produce  types  of  organisation — the  effect 
being  shown  too  in  psychic  traits.  "  Protes- 
tant Christianity, "  he  adds,  "is  the  religion  of 
a  liberty-loving,  alcohol-loving  people,  who 
have  a  strong  passion  for  independence  and  for 
sensual  indulgence  in  its  most  active  and  violent 
forms. " 

This  opinion  need  not  be  commented  upon  at 
length.  With  some  change  of  terms,  and  a 
difference  of  point  of  view,  it  interprets  the  re- 
lation of  alcoholic  intoxication  to  strength  of 
growth  forces  in  much  the  same  way  as  does 
our  own  view.  Beard  does  not,  however,  at- 
tempt to  explain  the  nature  of  this  intoxication 
impulse,  except  to  relate  it  to  whatever  in  the 
nations  leads  to  great  crimes  and  great  virtues, 
impulses  which  belong  only  to  a  high  order  of 
nervous  organisation. 

Another  interesting  discussion  of  the  intoxi- 
cation impulse  is  that  of  Reid.  (75)  Reid  is 
led,  after  a  general  survey  of  the  present  evo- 
lution of  man,  to  the  following  three  conclu- 
sions: (1)  that  every  species  must  necessarily 
undergo  retrogression  unless  that  retrogres- 
sion be  checked  by  selection;'  (2)  that  in  such 
a  high  multicellular  organism  as  man  acquired 
variations  cannot  be  transmitted;  (3)  that  in 


178     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

such  an  organism,  living  amidst  immensely  com- 
plex and  heterogeneous  surroundings,  the  ac- 
tion of  natural  selection  has  been  mainly  to  de- 
velop so  extraordinary  a  power  of  varying 
in  response  to  appropriate  stimulation,  direct 
or  indirect,  from  the  environment:  such  a  re- 
markable power  of  acquiring  individually  fit 
variations  that  very  much,  indeed  by  far  the 
greater  part,  of  the  characteristics  of  such  an 
organism  are  due  to  stimulation  acting  upon 
this  power  to  vary — are  variations  acquired  by 
the  individual,  but  variations  which  are  not 
transmissible.  At  present,  man's  most  formid- 
able enemy  is  the  immensely  numerous  class  of 
animal  and  vegetable  disease  germs  which  con- 
tinually threaten  the  safety  of  the  race,  and 
by  ceaseless  selection  weed  out  the  unfit. 
Moreover,  immunity  to  one  disease  germ  does 
not  afford  immunity  to  another,  and  each  which 
comes  into  contact  with  man  so  as  to  cause 
the  destruction  of  a  sufficient  number  of  lives, 
is  the  object  of  a  special  process  of  evolution. 

On  the  mental  side  we  find,  says  Reid,  numerous  habit- 
ually used  drugs  and  poisons  which  act  with  sufficient  violence, 
and  to  the  harm  of  sufficiently  large  numbers  of  the  race,  to 
be  the  objects  of  special  processes  of  selection.  The  chief  of 
these  poisons  is  alcohol.  In  generation  after  generation,  al- 
cohol is  the  cause  of  the  elimination  of  a  considerable  number 
of  the  unfit  in  relation  to  it,  and  is  the  cause  of  considerable 
evolution  against  itself.  This  evolution  may  be  in  one  or 
both  of  two  directions:  increasing  power  of  tolerating  the 
poison,  or  increasing  power  of  avoiding  it,  an  increasing  power 


THEORIES  OF  THE  IMPULSE     179 

of  imbibing  alcohol  without  ill  effects,  or  the  diminution  of 
the  craving  for  it,  or  both.  But  as  increasing  immunity  to 
the  poison  means  only  imbibing  larger  and  larger  quantities, 
evolution  must  be  in  the  direction  of  a  decreasing  craving  for 
it.  This  is  what  we  should  expect  a  priori,  and  this  is  what 
we  do  find.  Races  which  have  been  long  familiar  with  alcohol, 
like  races  long  familiar  with  a  prevalent  and  deadly  poison, 
are  less  harmfully  affected  by  it  than  races  which  have  had 
little  or  no  experience  with  it,  and  this  because  they  crave 
less  for  it,  and  drink  less  of  it.  The  peoples  of  the  Medi- 
terranean, the  Greeks,  the  Italians,  the  southern  Frenchman 
and  the  Spaniard,  who  lived  for  thousands  of  years  in  the 
presence  of  an  abundant  supply  of  alcohol  are  pre-eminently 
temperate.  The  natives  of  North  and  South  America,  Aus- 
tralia, Polynesia,  Africa^  Greenland,  whether  in  Arctic,  Tem- 
perate, or  Torrid  Zone,  crave  for  it  so  much  that  they  perish 
in  its  presence,  unless  we  protect  them  with  prohibitory  laws. 
Races  which  lie  between  these  extremes  in  regard  to  experience 
with  alcohol,  as  the  people  of  northern  Europe,  the  English 
for  example,  are  also  between  them  in  regard  to  the  resistance 
to  it. 

The  question  as  to  how  the  craving  for  alcohol  and  other 
narcotics,  the  love  of  those  states  of  mind  which  they  severally 
induce,  arose,  can  be  answered  in  only  one  way.  It  can  have 
arisen  only  as  a  by-product  of  mental  evolution,  a  by-product 
which,  in  the  absence  of  narcotics  was  harmless,  but  which 
in  the  presence  of  them  is  harmful,  and  against  which,  in 
races  long  affected  by  this  or  that  narcotic,  a  secondary  evo- 
lution has  occurred. 

This  craving,  according  to  Eeid,  is  a  specific 
craving.     Nothing  but  alcohol  can   satisfy  it. 
It  is  not  transferable,  so  to  speak,  and  evo-j 
lution  against  other  dmgs  does  not  affect  it. 

Eeid  insists  that  traits  acquired  under  the 
influence  of  such  selection  are  not  transmis- 
sible any  more  than  are  other  acquired  traits. 


180     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

The  craving  for  alcohol  depends  upon  con- 
sciousness, which,  in  turn,  depends  upon  the 
presence  of  nervous  structure.  That  the  germ 
is  bathed  in  alcohol  cannot  account  for  the  habit 
being  developed  in  the  child. 

Eacial   differences   in   regard   to   immunity 

against  alcohol  craving  are  not  due  to  the  fact 

that  some  races  are  by  nature  a-bstouious,  nor 

is  it  due  to  differences  in  education.    The  crav- 

\ing  for  alcohol  is  an  instinct,  and  not  an  ac- 

J  quired  trait.     It  is  comparable  to  hunger  and 

thirst,  or  to  sexual  and  parental  love ;  not  to  a 

love  of  books  or  of  paintings,  or  of  country,  or 

of  a  particular  religious  system. 

It  is  conceivable  that  a  man  might  be  reared  in  entire  ig- 
norance of  women,  but  in  such  a  case,  though  he  knew  not 
what  he  desired,  he  would  yet  crave  for  them,  and  his  passive 
desires  would  instantly  be  stimulated  into  activity  by  their 
presence.  So  a  savage  of  a  race  not  rendered  resistant  by 
alcoholic  selection  craves  unknowingly  for  alcohol,  for  that 
state  of  mind  which  alcohol  induces.  Racial  difference  is  not 
due  in  any  degree,  as  has  been  maintained,  to  difference  in 
the  strength  of  alcoholic  beverages  in  use  in  the  different 
countries.  On  the  contrary,  the  strength  of  the  craving  deter- 
mines the  degree  of  concentration  of  the  alcoholic  beverages. 

The  direction  of  the  process,  says  Reid,  has  been  toward 
a  lesser  craving  from  a  greater  craving,  and  in  some  cases, 
e.  g.,  the  English,  the  process  has  been  very  rapid,  since  side 
by  side  with  individuals  who  have  but  a  little  craving  for 
alcohol  are  found  others  with  a  very  great  craving,  and  since 
it  frequently  happens  that  parents  who  crave  but  little  for 
the  poison,  have  offspring  that  crave  very  greatly  for  it,  t.  e., 
offspring  who  have  reverted  to  the  ancestral  type  in  which  crav- 
ing was  very  great,  the  greatness  of  reversion  being  due  to  the 


THEOEIES  OF  THE  IMPULSE     181 

swiftness  of  the  evolution,  owing  to  which  reversion  to  a  not 
very  remote  ancestor  results  in  a  considerable  change  of  type. 

Races  which  have  undergone  evolution  through  alcoholic 
selection  are  liable  to  retrogression  when  the  stringency  of 
that  selection  is  abated.  When  the  innately  intemperate  have 
as  much  influence  on  posterity  as  the  innately  temperate,  alco- 
holic retrogression  will  ensue.  Thus  the  success  of  every 
scheme  for  the  promotion  of  temperance  which  depends  upon 
the  diminution  or  extinction  of  the  alcoholic  supply,  or  on 
voluntary  or  involuntary  abstinence  from  alcohol,  must  result 
in  an  aggravation  of  the  craving  for  that  state  of  mind  which 
indulgence  in  alcohol  induces.  The  craving  for  alcohol  is  like 
sexual  love,  an  instinct,  not  an  acquired  trait.  The  love  of  al- 
cohol is  born  anew  with  each  generation  undiminished  except  by 
alcoholic  selection.  It  is  practically  impossible  to  banish  al- 
cohol from  our  midst,  and  since  the  craving  for  alcohol  increases 
with  indulgence,  we  cannot  hope  that  moral  influence  will 
ever  result  in  temperance,  i.  e.,  in  a  moderate  use  of  alcohol. 

Why  not  banish  alcohol  as  we  do  microbes?  Because  no 
man  craves  for  disease,  and  thousands  crave  knowingly  or 
unknowingly  for  excess  in  alcoholic  indulgence.  In  the  face 
of  craving  for  alcohol  we  cannot  hope  to  banish  that  poison 
permanently.  If  alcohol  were  abolished,  the  time  would  surely 
come  after  the  race  had  undergone  retrogression,  when  any  law 
would  fall  into  abeyance  from  disuse.  If  temperance  were 
founded  on  a  voluntary  abstinence,  the  craving  would  eventu- 
ally grow  so  ardent,  as  a  result  of  retrogression,  that  no 
opposing  traits  would  be  sufficiently  strong  to  counteract  it. 
The  course  is  to  imitate  natural  selection  and  eliminate  those 
individuals  who  crave  for  alcohol  to  an  excessive  degree,  at 
least  in  so  far  as  to  prevent  them  influencing  posterity  by 
leaving  offspring. 

It  is  the  same  in  regard  to  the  other  narcotics.  We  find 
that  the  peoples  who  have  used  them  the  longest  are  less 
harmed  by  them,  and  have  less  craving  for  them  than  the 
people  who  are  not  accustomed  to  them. 

The  important  question  is  'Does  evolution  against  one  nar- 
cotic or  intoxicant  effect  another?  It  seems  probable  that 
the  states  of  mind  which  these  drugs  induce  are  distinct  and 


\ 


182     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

separate,  just  as  the  weaknesses  against  separate  zymotic 
diseases  are  distinct  and  separate.  Therefore  it  seems  prob- 
able that  a  man  may  be  strong  against  alcohol,  but  weak 
against  opium,  or  vice  versa,  though  a  race  accustomed  to 
one,  if  debarred  from  using  it,  may  go  to  greater  excess 
in  another,  and  the  presence  of  one  seems  to  shut  out  the 
others,  especially  when  craving  for  the  others  has  not  been 
strongly  awakened. 

This  interesting  theory,  which  will  be  dis- 
cussed presently  at  some  length,  has  been  re- 
viewed in  detail,  not  to  quote  it  approvingly,  but 
because,  although  evolutionary  in  its  hypothe- 
ses, it  is  very  different  from  the  present  inter- 
pretation of  the  facts,  and  because  it  leads  to 
different  practical  conclusions.  It  raises  many 
interesting  problems,  however,  and  apparently 
contains  important  truth.  Before  trying  to 
point  out  its  errors  and  limitations,  it  will  be 
best  to  bring  the  views  that  have  been  mentioned 
to  a  brief  summary,  in  order  to  have  clearly  in 
mind  the  divergent  theories  which  the  intoxi- 
cation impulses  have  aroused. 

There  are  three  main  types  of  theories  about 
the  intoxication  impulse:  those  which  try  to 
account  for  the  craving  for  alcohol  as  moral 
deviation ;  those  which  find  in  it  a  physical  appe- 
tite; and  those  which  explain  it  as  a  mental 
trait  or  craving.  There  are  many  variants 
within  each  group.  We  should  expect  to  find 
that  in  part  differences  of  opinion  are  due  to 
looking  at  different  phases  of  the  subject,  and 


THEORIES  OF  THE  IMPULSE     183 

in  part  to  the  fact  that  the  craving  for  intoxi- 
cants is  a  complex  impulse,  and  no  one,  perhaps, 
has  seen  the  whole  of  the  problem. 

The  physical  theories  of  the  craving  for  alco- 
hol are  especially  inadequate.  The  facts  al- 
ready noted  perhaps  sufficiently  criticise  these 
views,  but  two  aspects  of  them  need  to  be  em- 
phasised :  that  is,  the  view  that  the  craving  for 
alcohol  in  the  individual  is  due  to  the  effect  of 
alcohol  upon  the  tissues,,  and  that  this  craving 
can  be  transmitted  to  offspring.  The  truth 
involved  in  these  views  is  based  upon  three 
facts.  Certainly  totanany,  liquors  are  pleasing 
to  the  taste,  and  an  appetite  for  alcohol  may  be 
due  to  a  taste  craving.  But  that  such  craving 
is  not  as  a  rule  strong,  and  that  it  is  often  ab- 
sent in  the  drinker,  is  certain.  If  alcohol  is  a 
food,  it  may  be  sought  like  any  other  food.  But 
this  does  not  account  for  the  excessive  use  of  it, 
and  its  specific  effects  are  not  allowed  on  this 
theory  to  account  for  any  of  the  impulse  to  its 
use.  The  second  fact  is  that  alcohol  taken  in 
excess  is  capable  of  producing  at  least  tempo- 
rarily a  longing  for  more.  But  that  alcohol  can 
of  itself  affect  the  protoplasm  of  the  body  so 
that  thereafter  it  is  changed  in  character,  and 
a  permanent  craving  which  constitutes  the  in- 
dividual's weakness  for  alcoholic  drinks,  is 
thus  created,  appears  to  be  quite  disproved  by 
the  facts.  No  such  fixed  craving  exists ;  it  is  a 


184     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

very  adaptable  impulse,  it  depends  for  its  ex- 
istence upon  social  incitement  and  the  presence 
of  alcohol,  even  in  extreme  cases,  and  shows 
other  clear  indications  of  not  being  such  a  crav- 
ing as  the  theory  of  alcoholised  protoplasm 
asserts. 

The  view  that  the  craving  for  alcohol,  ac- 
quired by  the  parent,  may  be  transmitted  to  the 
offspring  takes  two  forms.  The  truth — and  this 
is  the  third  fact  upon  which  these  physical  views 
are  based — is  that  alcoholism  of  the  parent  may 
indirectly  cause  degeneration  and  alcohol  crav- 
ing in  the  child,  but  not  directly.  The  alcohol- 
ised germ  may  become  the  degenerate  child  be- 
cause it  is  weakened  by  the  effect  of  alcohol, 
but  that  it  can  receive  thus  a  specific  craving  for 
alcohol  seems  altogether  improbable,  and  even 
impossible.  Even  less  warrant  is  there  for  the 
view  that  the  germ  may  be  impressed  by  the 
parent's  acquired  craving  for  alcohol  as  a  men- 
tal state,  in  such  a  way  that  the  child  inherits 
a  craving.  That  a  craving  for  alcohol  is  in- 
herited, therefore,  is  not  proved,  and  the  theory 
is  not  in  accordance  with  the  facts.  Probably 
no  one  would  now  deny  that  alcohol  may  so 
affect  the  parent  as  to  cause  degeneracy  and 
disease  in  the  offspring,  and  thus  indirectly  pro- 
duce a  tendency  to  many  abnormal  habits  in- 
cluding excessive  use  of  alcohol,  the  indulgence 
in  which  temporarily  and  artificially  relieves 


THEORIES  OF  THE  IMPULSE     185 

pain,  or  satisfies  an  excessive  and  abnormal 
craving  for  excitement.  It  is  probable  that  the 
offspring  of  the  opium  user  is  quite  as  likely  to 
succumb  to  a  craving  for  alcohol,  as  is  the  alco- 
hol drinker's  child. 

Cases  in  which  there  is  said  to  be  a  craving 
for  alcohol  due  to  the  parent's  intemperate  hab- 
its need  careful  scrutiny  before  they  are  pro- 
nounced to  be  thus  caused.  The  child  may  cer- 
tainly become  addicted  to  alcoholic  excess  like 
his  father,  because  he  inherited  his  father's 
temperament,  including  his  liability  to  excess  in 
this  and  perhaps  in  other  ways.  This  point 
needs  to  be  emphasised,  and  also  that  such  a 
temperamental  weakness  may  be  hereditary 
with  very  little  likelihood  that  the  child  will 
become  a  drunkard.  The  fear  of  inheritance 
is  a  harmful  attitude  of  the  public  mind,  and 
helps  to  perpetuate  the  belief  in  the  fatality  of 
the  drunkard's  career,  quite  in  contradiction  to 
the  facts.  A  few  cases  will  illustrate  the  psy- 
chological points  that  we  wish  to  enforce. 

The  following  case  was  related  by  a  physi- 
cian : — A  drunkard  had  two  daughters,  both  of 
whom  inherited  from  him  a  craving  for  alcohol. 
One  drank,  at  first  moderately,  and  then  to  ex- 
cess, and  finally  died  from  the  effects.  The  sec- 
ond has  never  tasted  alcohol,  but  testifies  that 
she  has  a  craving  for  it.  It  is  difficult  to  under- 
stand how  one  may  be  sure  of  having  a  craving 


186     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

for  something  which  is  totally  outside  one 's  ex- 
perience. Suggestion  and  fear  account  for  such 
a  belief,  and  the  foundation  in  feeling  is  prob- 
ably a  general  dissatisfaction  or  longing,  or 
nervous  discomfort,  which  thousands  of  people 
have  who  have  no  alcoholic  heredity.  Probably 
the  second  daughter  in  this  case  was  no  more 
likely  to  become  a  drunkard  than  a  great  many 
others  of  nervous  temperament,  who  have  no 
alcoholic  heredity  at  all. 

Another  case  will  show  how  easily  these  crav- 
ings for  alcohol  may  be  misinterpreted.  A  man 
accustomed  to  careful  introspection  writes  as 
follows : 

"I  have  never  tasted  alcohol  in  any  form  so 
far  as  I  know,  but  often,  especially  on  going 
by  a  saloon,  I  have  a  strong  desire  to  go  in  and 
get  a  drink.  The  sign,  ' Frank  Jones'  Golden 
Ale'  appeals  to  me,  and  the  picture  of  the  foam- 
ing glass  has  a  fascination  for  me  especially 
on  a  hot  day.  Now  I  haven't  the  slightest  idea 
what  'Frank  Jones'  Golden  Ale'  tastes  like. 
I  may  add  that  there  is  no  history  of  alcoholism 
in  my  family." 

Later  this  man  reported  that  he  had  drunk 
a  glass  of  ale  and  did  not  like  it  at  all.  If  he 
had  ever  had  the  alcohol  habit,  or  if  there  had 
been  a  history  of  it  in  his  family,  he  would  have 
concluded  perhaps  that  his  longing  was  a  deep- 
seated  craving  for  drink. 


THEORIES  OF  THE  IMPULSE     187 

Another  case  will  illustrate  a  different  side  of 
the  question.  A  very  normal  man  of  forty 
years  remembers  as  a  child  of  not  more  than 
five  having  once  drunk  something  from  a  pecu- 
liar looking  bottle.  He  remembers  distinctly 
noticing  that  the  people  present  exchanged 
significant  looks  and  were  laughing  at  him.  He 
remembers  liking  the  taste,  and  afterwards  look- 
ing many  times  for  the  bottle  in  order  to  have 
more  of  the  drink,  which  he  now  knows  was 
cherry  rum.  As  he  grew  up,  remembering  this 
childish  craving,  he  for  years  believed  that  he 
had  an  inherited  taste  for  alcohol,  as  there  was 
a  history  of  it  in  the  family,  his  grandfather 
having  been  a  very  heavy  drinker.  He  has 
since  used  alcohol  moderately  and  has  had  no 
tendency  whatever  to  fall  a  victim  to  it. 

The  simplest  explanation  of  the  inherited 
craving  for  alcohol  is  that  it  does  not  exist  at 
all,  but  that  various  longings  are  interpreted  as 
such.  The  facility  with  which  alcohol  habits 
can  be  exchanged  for  other  drug  habits,  the  ef- 
fectiveness of  cures  which  act  upon  the  mental 
processes,  the  abrupt  cessation  of  the  craving 
when  alcohol  cannot  be  obtained,  all  point  to  a 
single  conclusion:  that  the  craving  for  alcohol 
is  not  a  physiological  craving,  but  a  complex 
mental  state,  that  it  is  not  as  such  transmitted, 
and  that  much  that  is  interpreted  as  a  craving 
for  alcohol  is  not  this  at  all,  but  is  a  more  gen- 


188     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

eral  craving  for  various  forms  of  experience. 

Perhaps  the  strongest  evidence  against  the 
view  that  alcoholised  protoplasm  is  the  physio- 
logical basis  of  the  craving  for  alcohol,  is  fur- 
nished by  the  abundant  testimony  that  the  young 
drinker  is  far  less  am£nable  to  treatment  than 
the  old  drinker,  which  could  hardly  be  the  case, 
if  a  slow  process  of  poisoning  produced  the 
craving.  The  sudden  cures,  especially  the  psy- 
chic cures,  offer  further  evidence  on  the  point. 
The  widespread  belief  in  the  deep-seated  phys- 
ical nature  of  the  craving  for  alcohol  has  had  in 
the  past  a  pernicious  effect;  for  the  belief  that 
a  habit  is  incurable  serves,  more  than  anything 
else,  to  compel  its  continuance,  while  the  effect 
of  the  opposite  belief,  that  the  habit  may  easily 
be  broken,  or  that  a  cure  has  been  effected,  often 
constitutes  the  whole  cure,  even  in  old  and  se- 
vere cases. 

Such  a  view  does  not  of  course  deny  that  there 
are  physiological  substrata  in  the  habits  of  in- 
toxication as  in  all  other  experiences.  Alcohol 
used  in  excess  certainly  does  make  demonstra- 
ble inroads  upon  the  finer  structures  of  the 
brain,  and  these  changes  are  supposedly  the 
basis  of  weakened  will  and  lessened  reserve,  and 
other  protective  attitudes  of  consciousness. 
Nor  would  a  psychological  view  of  intemperance 
rule  out  of  court  such  hypotheses  as  those  of 
Campbell,  who  claims  that  stimulants  are  nor- 


THEORIES  OF  THE  IMPULSE     189 

raally  present  in  the  body,  either  created  as  by- 
products of  metabolism,  or  present  in  the  food, 
that  they  are  utilised  in  the  body,  and  are  in- 
volved in  the  feeling  of  well-being  and  ill-being ; 
and  that  when  the  normal  stimulants  are  defi- 
cient artificial  stimulants  are  craved.  We  must 
indeed  assume  physical  and  chemical  factors  in 
all  mental  attitudes,  the  normal  no  less  than  the 
abnormal.  But  no  such  hypotheses  afford  an 
adequate  explanation  of  intemperance. 

A  corollary  of  the  physical-craving  theory  of 
the  alcohol  habit  is  the  oft-accepted  statement 
that  the  effect  of  alcohol  upon  the  system  is  to 
produce  such  a  condition  of  the  tissues  that 
greater  and  greater  quantities  are  required  to 
produce  intoxication,  and  there  is  a  more  and 
more  imperative  physiological  need.  This  is 
by  no  means  proved,  especially  in  cases  in  which 
there  are  even  short  periods  of  abstinence. 
Waugh  denies  the  statement  that  drug  users  in- 
crease the  dose  because  it  takes  more  and  more 
to  produce  exhilaration.  He  says  that  all  whom 
he  has  questioned  have  confessed  that  they 
increase  the  dose  because  they  desire  more  of 
the  feeling.  The  same  was  found  to  be  true  in 
some  of  our  cases.  Some  say  that  less  is  re- 
quired to  intoxicate  as  the  habit  progresses.  In 
cases  in  which  drinking  is  steady,  day  after  day, 
however,  there  seems  to  be  within  limits  a  capac- 
ity for  consuming  larger  and  larger  quantities 


\ 


190     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

with  comparative  impunity.  In  cases  of  re- 
lapse after  cures  by  the  Keeley  and  other 
methods,  sudden  death  is  sometimes  caused,  it 
seems,  by  the  inability  of  the  system  to  consume 
quantities  of  alcohol  that  were  readily  disposed 
of  while  the  habit  was  steadily  maintained. 

Those  theories  that  claim  for  the  alcohol 
craving  a  psychic  origin  seem  nearly  all  to  have 
hit  upon  truth,  but  only  partial  truth.  So  long 
as  they  cleave  to  generalities  and  speak  of  an 
instinctive  craving  for  alcohol,  or  say  that  the 
craving  has  become  a  form  of  second  nature, 
and  make  similar  formulations,  they  need  little 
criticism,  since  they  offer  little  explanation. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  the  claim  that  habits  of 
intemperance  have  been  perpetuated  because  of 
the  pain  in  the  world,  contains  truth.  But  this 
is  only  a  half  truth,  for  pain  is  but  one  motive, 
and  accounts  for  but  a  part  of  the  world's  drink- 
ing. The  theory  that  alcohol  is  used  because 
it  causes  wider  variations  in  life,  which  is 
otherwise  too  monotonous,  expresses  vaguely 
an  important  psychological  truth,  as  does  also 
the  view  that  alcohol  changes  the  relation  be- 
tween common  sense  and  individual  sense. 
Beard's  theory  of  the  close  relation  between 
high  mental  development  in  a  race,  and  a  love 
of  stimulation  also  accords  with  a  part  of  the 
facts,  and  roughly  describes  one  motive  of  in- 
toxication. Somewhat  more  precise  is  Starke's 


THEOEIES  OF  THE  IMPULSE     191 

view  that  alcohol  stimulates  the  ego,  the  inner 
individuality  with  its  sentiments  and  passions; 
and  by  strengthening  this  activity  makes  at- 
tention to  external  things — to  the  mechanical 
and  acquired  parts  of  experience — less  intense. 
Put  into  a  more  general  form  these  views 
mean  this:  Alcohol  serves  the  purpose  of  re- 
laxing or  inhibiting  the  more  individual  experi- 
ences of  a  man,  and  of  stimulating  the  emotional  J 
life,  which  is  the  deeper  and  wider  life.* 
It  thus  enlarges  the  individuality,  and  al- 
lows the  feeling  life  and  imagination  such  scope 
as  might  be  realised  in  a  life  before  the  advent 
of  a  civilisation  which  makes  the  individual  nar- 
row and  special.  That  is,  alcohol  serves  to 
widen  the  experience,  to  make  life  more  so- 
cial, and  to  produce  states  like  those  in  the 
growth  periods  of  the  individual,  when  he  is 
dominated  by  the  feelings  and  ideals-  of  his 
race,  and  is  not  hampered  by  the  details  and 
necessities  of  personal  achievement.  The  life 
of  purpose  and  ideas  is  aroused,  and  outlook 
is  stimulated,  while  the  life  of  fact  is  relatively 

*  From  an  investigation  of  the  motives  for  drinking  made 
among  professional  classes  for  the  Committee  of  Fifty  the 
conclusion  was  reached  that  drinks  are  used  mainly  for  their 
effect  upon  mental  action,  especially  upon  the  emotions,  and 
that  they  are  sometimes  used  from  a  special  desire  to  increase 
the  intensity  of  consciousness,  but  more  often  for  their  seda- 
tive effects — and  that  the  whole  strength  of  the  liquor  traffic  * 
lies  in  the  weakness  of  human  nature  on  the  social  side.  f 


192     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

diminished.     The  meaning  of  life  is  artificially 
widened  and  deepened. 

As  to  Reid's  view  that  the  craving  for  alco- 
hol (which  is  equivalent  for  him  to  the  craving 
for  intoxication,  because  he  claims  that  every 
dose  of  alcohol  produces  some  degree  of  intoxi- 
cation) is  a  product  of  mental  evolution,  and  is 
a  specific  craving  for  alcohol,  satisfied  by  noth- 
ing else,  and  controlled  only  by  a  process  of 
evolution  which  is  directly  against  it  as  an 
isolated  factor  in  man's  development, — all  the 
facts  and  interpretations  of  the  preceding  chap- 
ters oppose  it.  That  it  is  in  a  sense  an  instinct, 
that  it  is  a  product  of,  or  is  related  to,  or  is  a 
part  of,  mental  evolution  would  be  admitted, 
indeed,  asserted;  but  that  the  craving  is  a  spe- 
cific craving  for  alcoholic  intoxication  would  be 
denied.  //  ivrong,  such  a  view  leads  to  very 
erroneous  generalisations  about  the  course  of 
mental  evolution,  and  to  decidedly  wrong  views 
of  the  practical  problems  of  intemperance.  The 
error  consists  in  asserting  a  likeness  between 
the  craving  for  alcohol  and  a  zymotic  or  germ 
disease.  If  the  craving  were  thus  specific,  and 
were  general  enough,  and  could  be  stripped  of 
some  of  its  economic  and  other  complications, 
evolution  would  perhaps  act  toward  it  as  Reid 
maintains.  But  evidence  is  conclusive  that  it 
is  not  such  a  specific  craving,  that  it  is  plastic, 
and  a  part  of  a  more  general  desire,  which  ap- 


THEORIES  OF  THE  IMPULSE     193 

pears  in  many  forms,  and  can  be  satisfied  in 
many  ways.  Any  process  of  evolution  which 
weeds  out  those  defective  in  control  generally 
will  help,  we  believe,  to  eliminate  the  alcoholic 
victim,  and  would  at  the  same  time  prevent  a 
nation  becoming  susceptible  to  the  inroads  of 
any  habit.  Besides,  evolution  does  not  act  thus 
precisely  upon  the  craving  for  alcohol.  The  ef- 
fects of  alcoholic  excess  reach  out  so  widely 
upon  those  who  do  not  possess  the  craving  as 
such,  but  who  are  made  liable  to  it  through  the 
hardships  which  it  inflicts  upon  them  indirectly 
(as  in  the  case  of  children  of  inebriates,  who 
'are  not  eliminated  and  who  tend  to  spread  the 
habit),  that  there  can  be  no  such  uniform  reduc- 
tion as  Eeid  maintains.  Independently  of  in- 
herited effects,  too,  whole  classes  of  society  are 
made  poorer  and  distress  is  perpetuated  among 
them  by  the  use  of  alcohol,  thus  keeping  alive 
the  narcotic  motive  for  its  use  rather  than 
diminishing  it.  Unless  at  the  same  time  the 
poor  as  a  class  in  society  are  being  eliminated 
by  evolution  the  craving  for  alcohol  is  not  being 
checked  by  evolution,  for  it  certainly  persists 
wherever  poverty  occurs  in  the  midst  of  wealth. 
Nor  among  higher  classes  does  the  craving  die 
out  by  inheritance  of  lesser  craving,  for  those 
who,  judged  by  the  only  criteria  we  have,  inherit 
little  craving  as  such  appear  readily  to  acquire 
the  habit,  and  so  start  another  chain  of  effect 


194     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEBANCE 

and  cause ;  while,  too,  new  motives  and  favour- 
ing conditions  are  continually  produced. 

Even  though  it  were  true  that  in  nations 
which  have  long  been  accustomed  to  alcohol 
there  is  less  craving  for  it  than  in  nations  in 
which  the  habit  has  recently  been  acquired  (as 
does  not  seem  to  be  the  case)  this  would  not 
indicate  that  the  length  of  experience  is  the 
cause  of  the  diminished  craving.  Older  races 
have  many  characteristics  of  old  age,  among 
them  diminished  exuberance  of  feeling.  The 
history  of  drinking  among  civilised  nations 
shows  that  the  elimination  of  the  craving  for 
alcohol  has  not  been  a  uniform  process.  As 
we  have  seen,  times  preceding  eras  of  high  cul- 
ture have  been  times  of  gross  intemperance; 
temperance  has  come  with  the  highest  culture, 
and  then  intemperance  again  as  the  nation  de- 
clined. Lower  races  which  have  long  been  ac- 
customed to  native  alcoholic  beverages  perish 
when  brought  into  contact  with  the  stronger 
drinks  of  civilised  men,  showing  that  their  long 
acquaintance  with  alcohol  has  not  eliminated 
from  them  the  dangers  of  excess,  when  they  be- 
come influenced  by  the  social  habits  of  the  white 
man.  It  is  well  known  that  Europeans  of  Ilio 
lower  classes,  especially  Italians,  who,  Reid 
says,  have  not  a  strong  craving  for  alcohol,  on 
coming  to  America  readily  succumb  to  the 
drinking  habits  of  the  country. 


THEORIES  OF  THE  IMPULSE     195 

There  is  nowhere  in  the  history  of  drink  an 
account  of  the  sudden  introduction  of  alcohol 
into  a  civilised  country  previously  unaccus- 
tomed to  drinking.  In  that  case  we  should  ex- 
pect, on  such  a  theory  as  that  of  Eeid,  the  most 
disastrous  effects,  for  no  degree  of  civilisation 
would  in  itself  be  in  the  least  a  safeguard 
against  alcohol  in  the  absence  of  a  long  period 
in  which  selection  had  been  at  work  eliminating 
the  craving.  A  good  example  of  this,  however, 
on  a  small  scale,  is  to  be  found  in  the  case  of 
families  who  because  of  moral  ideals  have  been 
abstainers  for  many  generations.  On  Reid's 
theory  we  should  expect  that  the  descendants  of 
these  would  be  weak  in  the  presence  of  alcohol. 
This  does  not  appear  to  be  true;  in  fact  quite 
the  opposite  conclusion  is  warranted.  A  few 
generations  of  moral  tradition  in  a  family 
fortify  its  descendants  against  excess  and  im- 
morality. The  sudden  introduction  of  alcohol 
into  an  abstinent  nation  in  such  a  stage  of 
growth  as  that  of  our  own  country  at  the  pres- 
ent time,  would  probably  not,  as  Reid  says,  re- 
sult disastrously,  for  the  reason  that  selection 
has  already  produced,  in  connection  with  gen- 
eral advancement  of  civilisation,  those  qualities 
of  control  and  those  ideals  which  antagonise  all 
forms  of  destructive  habits,  alcoholism  among 
the  rest. 

Diminution  of  the  craving  for  alcohol  has 


196     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

come  about,  if  at  all,  not  by  a  process  of  evolu- 
tion working  against  a  specific  craving,  but  by 
a  broad  movement  in  which  lower  impulses  have 
been  transformed  into  higher.  Intoxication 
once  regarded  as  a  religious  duty  quite  gener- 
ally among  uncivilised  nations,  has  come  after 
centuries  to  be  regarded  as  sinful.  Though 
ideals  of  temperance  differ  greatly  among  civi- 
lised nations,  it  can  be  said  that  there  is  an  in- 
creasing and  spreading  interest  in  temper- 
ance, and  even  total  abstinence;  and  that  the 
motives  leading  to  intemperance  are  held  in 
check  by  this  moral  ideal.  This  motive  is  a 
slow  growth,  parallel  to  the  impulse  which  it 
holds  in  check;  and  by  inhibiting  the  intoxica- 
tion motives  it  creates  a  tension  favourable  to 
higher  development.  The  central  impulse  of 
temperance  ideals  is  the  idea  of  social  service. 
Those  who  drink  to  excess  waste  and  pervert 
enthusiasm,  and  become  useless  members  of  so- 
ciety. As  civilisation  increases  the  individual 
must  more  and  more  become  a  link  in  a  chain 
of  co-ordinated  events.  He  must  control  his 
activities  and  be  controlled;  he  must  turn  the 
raw  material  of  his  enthusiasm  into  a  product. 
Therefore  the  ideal  of  control,  both  inner  and 
outer,  develops,  the  one  expressed  in  law,  the 
other  in  moral  conscience.  The  spirit  of  in- 
toxication, the  force  and  energy  of  which  it  is  an 
expression,  is*  recognised  to  be  a  precious  asset 


THEORIES  OF  THE  IMPULSE     197 

of  the  race,  and  our  efforts  are  directed  to  i 
turning  the  lower,  more  immediately  expres-  / 
sive,  and  less  organised  forms  of  enthusiasm 
into  the  higher.  That  which  remains  unpro- 
ductive, which  does  not  inspire  useful  conduct, 
is  socially  condemned,  and  religious  sanctions 
are  sought  for  so  condemning  it.  Other  motives 
enter,  for  example  the  increasing  respect  for 
the  integrity  of  the  self,  which  helps  to  create 
public  sentiment  against  all  states  in  which  the 
individual  does  not  rationally  direct  his  conduct. 
The  obvious  result  of  intoxication  in  inciting 
to  other  undesirable  acts  is  another  motive  of 
temperance.  The  narcotic  motive,  the  effort  to 
escape  pain  and  fatigue  is  condemned,  in  pro- 
portion as  pain  and  fatigue  are  seen  to  result 
from  and  to  favour  the  continuance  of  the  nor- 
mal activities  which  society  holds  in  highest 
esteem.  Every  individual  is  directed  to  bear 
his  part  of  the  pain,  and  to  turn  his  restlessness 
and  distress,  as  forces,  into  useful  channels. 
Among  some  classes  of  society  these  ideals  be- 
come a  demand  for  total  abstinence,  enforced 
by  laws  prohibiting  the  sale  of  intoxicating 
liquors.  The  tendency  is  to  condemn  all  drink- 
ing of  alcohol,  in  part  because  of  a  theological 
ideal  which  has  condemned  all  pleasure  as  sin. 
With  it  goes  a  tendency  to  discountenance  all 
the  luxuries  of  the  wealthy  classes.  In  temper-  / 
ate  drinking  is  found  a  danger  of  drunkenness 


198     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

and  an  example  which  leads  to  intemperate 
drinking  on  the  part  of  the  lower  classes,  or  by 
weak  individuals  of  the  higher  classes;  and  so 
gradually  an  ideal  of  complete  abstinence  has 
spread  widely.  This  ideal  tends  to  be  sup- 
ported also  by  an  increasing  conviction  that 
alcohol  is  harmful  to  the  body.  We  must  leave 
to  the  practical  part  of  the  discussion  to  judge 
the  probable  future  of  this  ideal  and  the  attitude 
toward  it  which  should  be  taken  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  facts  about  alcohol  and  intoxication. 


* 


CHAPTER  X 

SUMMARY   OF   FACTS  AND   INTERPRETATIONS 

HAVING  come  by  several  different  methods  to 
various  conclusions  about  the  nature  of  intoxi- 
cation and  the  intoxication  impulse,  it  will 
be  well  to  cast  a  retrospective  glance,  in 
order  to  know  how  these  interpretations 
may  be  brought  together  into  a  general 
view,  and  to  prepare  for  a  study  of  the 
practical  problems  of  temperance  and  the 
use  of  alcohol  generally.  The  interest  is  not  in 
working  out  a  consistent  psychological  theory, 
which  would  be  tempting  if  the  purpose  of  the 
study  were  different ;  for  the  facts  about  intoxi- 
cation raise  many  interesting  questions  about 
the  nature  of  instinct  and  emotion,  and  the  laws 
of  mental  development  in  the  individual  and  in 
the  race.  Neither  is  the  purpose  to  formulate 
a  single  definite  principle  from  which  certain 
practical  conclusions  may  be  deduced.  It  is 
rather  to  organise  the  various  facts  and  inter- 
pretations in  such  a  way  as  to  bring  the  psycho- 
logical view-points  into  the  foreground,  and 
show  the  part  they  may  take — combined  with 
other  scientific  factors  of  the  problem,  and  with 

199 


200     PSYCHOLOGY,  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

practical  and  common-sense  considerations,  and 
the  results  of  experimentation  and  experience 
— in  attaining  a  broad  and  sane  outlook  upon 
the  questions  at  issue. 

If  we  are  to  deal  in  a  practical  manner  with 
habits  of  «men,  it  seems  as  though  the  first  im- 
portant work  is  to  {understand  the^otives  upon 
which  these  habits  are  based,*their  history  in 
the  individual  and  in  the  race.  At  the  same 
time  we  may  profitably  investigate  our  own 
moral  judgments,  and  trace  their  history— 
we  must  understand  the  human  passions  with 
which  we  deal,  both  those  which  we  try  to  con- 
trol, and  those  that  motivate  the  ideals  to- 
ward which  we  wish  to  bring  the  conduct 
of  others,  before  we  shall  be  equipped  to 
proceed  with  the  highest  intelligence.  In  other 
\  words  we  need  to  know  why  men  are  impelled 
\  to  drink,  and  why  we  wish  to  restrain  them.  In 
studying  such  a  problem  as  intemperance, 
knowledge  about  the  impulses  which  lead  to  in- 
toxication must  be  supplemented  by  knowledge 
about  the  state  of  intoxication  itself  in  all  its 
degrees  and  forms.  For  how  can  one  under- 
take to  control,  abolish,  or  judge  a  thing  with- 
out knowing  precisely  what  its  nature  is  ?  If  it 
is  abnormal,  a  disorder  or  poisoning  of  the  body, 
a  temporary  insanity,  we  must  know  how  the 
normal  functions  are  related  to  it,  just  as  we 
\  must  discover  what  normal  impulses  are  most 


SUMMAEY  OF  FACTS  201 

nearly  related  to  the  craving  for  these  condi- 
tions, which  is  the  underlying  cause  of  intem- 
perance. These  are  the  lines  upon  which  our 
investigation  has  progressed. 

A  study  of  the  intoxication  motive  in  animals 
showed  that  even  in  the  lowest  forms  of  life 
intoxication  can  be  induced;  and  that  at  least 
its  physical  phenomena  are  much  like  those  of 
human  intoxication.  Animals  can  acquire  the 
habit  of  intoxication,  but  the  mental  aspects 
of  their  habit  cannot  easily  be  investigated. 
Whether  they  ever  form  so  complex  an  associa- 
tion as  to  seek  a  drink  which  is  in  itself  un- 
pleasant  for  the  sake  of  a  remote  mental  effect, 
seems  quite  doubtful. 

Closely  connected  with  the  intoxication  states 
induced  by  alcohol  are  certain  states  of  exalta- 
tion related  to  the  play  and  mating  habits  of 
animals.  These  states  appear  to  serve  the  pur- 
pose of  making  dynamic  various  actions  of  the 
animal,  especially  the  sexual,  and  they  also  seem 
to  assist  in  bringing  the  nervous  system  to  com- 
plete development,  and  to  stimulate  functions 
that  are  later,  perhaps,  to  be  called  upon  to  pro- 
duce effects  remote  from  the  purpose  of  their 
origin.  It  is  likely  that  both  the  mechanisms  in- 
volved in  producing  these  states  of  ecstasy  and 
the  motives  which  induce  them  have  originated, 
in  part  at  least,  in  connection  with  the  sexual 
erethisms.  Later,  as  we  pass  to  higher  forms 


202     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

of  animal  life,  and  to  man,  we  see  that  these  old 
mechanisms  still  perform  a  part,  and  give  to 
many  actions  and  desires  their  motive  power. 
These  mechanisms,  once  special  and  definitely 
purposeful  in  form,  when  detached  from  their 
original  purpose  may  become  the  basis  of  very 
general  activities  and  desires. 

Every  trait  of  the  human  species  has  a  double 
history:  in  the  race,  and  in  the  individual,  and 
must  be  studied  in  both  its  aspects.  Turning  to 
the  history  of  the  intoxication  impulse  in  the 
race,  we  find  a  long  and  complicated  story. 
The  custom  of  using  alcoholic  drinks  is  poly- 
genetic  and  nearly  universal  among  tribes  and 
races.  Intoxication  has  played  a  great  part  in 
the  religious  and  social  life  of  primitive  peoples. 
There  is  evidence  to  indicate  that  it  was  first 
induced  for  religious  purposes,  and  in  common 
with  other  forms  of  exaltation  of  feeling,  was 
put  to  an  important  religious  use.  It  enlarged 
man's  conception  of  the  supernatural  and  di- 
vine, and  stimulated  belief.  Shamanism,  the 
first  developed  religion,  was  founded  upon  in- 
toxication, and  spread  as  a  cult  over  all  the 
world.  Every  important  event  in  the  life  of  the 
savage  has  been  celebrated  by  intoxication,  and 
especially  in  the  social  life,  alcohol  has  per- 
formed a  service.  Its  function  has  been  to 
widen  the  social  life,  to  assist  in  the  amalgama- 
tion of  tribes,  and  to  foster  co-ordinations  within 


SUMMARY  OF  FACTS  203 

social  groups.  By  stimulating  belief  it  has 
made  all  socialising  influences  more  effective. 
Indeed  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  what  the  social 
and  religious  life  of  primitive  and  savage  man 
might  have  been  without  alcohol. 

Excessive  and  infrequent  or  periodic  intoxi- 
cation seems  to  have  been  the  usual  form  of 
drinking  among  uncivilised  tribes.  Drinking 
was  carried  on  for  a  purpose,  was  always  con- 
nected with  an  idea,  and  drinking  of  alcohol 
as  a  beverage  was  a  late  result.  Temperance 
arose  first  as  the  regulation  of  the  rites  of  in- 
toxication by  custom  and  law,  rather  than  from 
moral  restraint.  Woman  everywhere  has  used 
alcohol  to  a  less  extent  than  has  man,  not  only 
because  alcohol  has  been  prohibited  to  her  by 
law  and  custom,  but  because  her  habit  of  life 
is  less  erethic,  her  tasks  therefore  more  monot- 
onous, and  less  subject  to  wide  variations  and 
sweeping  rhythms :  in  other  words  because  the 
intoxication  impulse  or  motive  is  weaker  in 
woman  than  in  man.  In  civilisation,  however, 
she  readily  succumbs  to  other  motives  for  drink- 
ing, and  acquires  narcotic  habits. 

Examination  of  various  activities  of  man,  in 
which  states  of  exalted  feeling  are  sought,  shows 
that  the  craving  for  periodic  excitement  is  deep- 
seated.  Alcohol  affords  to  man  one  means  of 
many,  normal  and  abnormal,  of  breaking  away 
from  his  routines  and  controls,  and  reaching 


204     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

new  levels  of  feeling.  There  is  a  natural  ten- 
dency on  the  part  of  the  young  to  seek  excite- 
ment and  all  exalted  states  of  feeling.  The  ere- 
thic  habit,  and  craving  for,  or  instinctive  seek- 
ing of,  erethic  states  is  a  normal  and  necessary 
aspect  of  growth,  favoured  by  selection  because 
it  assists  in  perfecting  and  increasing  the  pow- 
ers of  the  organism ;  because  it  creates  a  high 
tension  of  feeling,  which  is  the  condition  of  ef- 
fective action,  and  is  an  exercise  of  all  the 
higher  enthusiasms.  So  both  endurance  of  high 
tension  and  the  desire  to  produce  it  have  in- 
creased as  the  nervous  mechanisms  have  be- 
come more  complex.  Thus  the  sexual  ere- 
thisms, intoxication  states  of  various  kinds,  ex- 
citement of  play,  states  of  second  breath,  ecsta- 
sy, religious  fervour,  social  intensity,  belief,  en- 
thusiasm, and  the  intensity  of  mental  action 
which  is  finally  controlled  and  expressed  in 
long-sustained  attention  and  interest,  are  in- 
terpreted as  psychological  kindred,  all  con- 
nected, it  is  likely,  by  the  common  utilisation  of 
the  same  mechanisms  of  the  nervous  system,  and 
by  participating  in  a  common  impulse  or  in- 
stinct to  induce  high  intensity  of  mental  ac- 
tivity as  a  mode  of  mental  development. 

At  adolescence  all  these  intoxication  motives 
become  intensified,  and  their  relation  to  growth 
becomes  clear.  The  whole  period  is  best  char- 
acterised as  dominated  by  the  intoxication  mo- 


SUMMARY  OF  FACTS  205 

tives,  and  the  strength  of  these  motives  in  the 
life  of  the  individual,  and  their  plasticity  and 
educability,  is  the  test  of  capacity  for  growth, 
and  the  basis  of  all  future  interests  and  en- 
thusiasms. The  love  of  alcohol  intoxication  is 
but  one  expression  of  a  plastic  motive  and  ca-  / 
pacity  of  the  nervous  system,  a  motive  that  is  v 
deep-seated  and  fundamental.  When  growth  is 
normal,  the  lower,  unproductive  enthusiasms  be- 
come transformed  into  higher,  productive  and 
organised  activities,  and  the  individual  tran- 
scends the  dangers  of  intemperance  and  other 
lower  forms  of  expression  of  the  intoxication 
impulse.  Both  in  the  individual  and  in  the  race 
the  lower,  more  general,  and  cruder  forms  of 
intoxication  precede  the  higher  and  more  con- 
trolled. 

Continuing  the  survey  of  the  genesis  of  the 
intoxication  impulses  in  the  race,  their  relation 
to  mental  development  and  social  organisation 
becomes  still  clearer,  as  also  does  the  relation 
between  the  growth  of  the  individual  and  of  the 
race.  We  find  that  the  intoxication  impulses 
are  strongest  in  the  dominant  races,  and  that 
they  are  always  more  intense  in  periods  of  rapid 
growth,  especially  at  times  just  preceding  the 
greatest  intellectual  activity.  The  cult  of 
Dionysus  in  Greece  is  to  be  interpreted  as  a 
worship  of  the  creative  force,  an  expression  of 
the  longing  for  a  larger  and  more  abundant  life. 


206     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

At  the  time  of  the  Eenaissance  the  excess- 
ive intensity  of  the  intoxication  motive 
again  indicates  the  onset  of  a  period  of 
accelerated  growth.  Now  there  is  a  change 
from  outer  to  inner  control,  and  for  a  time 
no  control  at  all.  The  emotional  life  is  wid- 
ened and  deepened,  new  enthusiasms  are 
created  and  the  crude  growth  forces  are  at 
last  brought  under  control  in  a  new  social  era. 
The  rough  virtues  and  vices  that  mark  the  grow- 
ing periods  of  the  dominant  races  become 
transformed.  The  warlike  spirit  and  intemper- 
ance go  together,  and  both  are  expressions  of 
mental  and  physical  virility. 

I  As  national  life  becomes  more  intricate  the 
/  intoxication  motives  are  found  to  be  complex. 
/  Immigration  toward  centres  of  greatest  prog- 
ress ensues,  increasing  the  heterogeneity  of  life ; 
there  is  more  flux  among  social  classes ;  higher 
motives  act  side  by  side  with  the  low  and  ab- 
normal motives;  and  whenever  growth  ceases, 
and  degeneration  sets  in,  whether  in  small  or 
large  groups,  and  the  number  of  abnormal  indi- 
viduals greatly  increases,  the  narcotic  im- 
pulse arises.  This  is  the  longing  to  escape 
from  pain,  to  seek  relief  in  inactivity  and  rest; 
it  is  a  turning  backward  away  from  the  stren- 
uous life,  or  is  an  effort  to  arouse  flagging  en- 
thusiasms, and  bring  back  pleasures  for  which 
there  is  no  longer  physical  or  mental  strength. 


SUMMARY  OF  FACTS  207 

When  the  narcotic  motive  becomes  general  or 
widespread  growth  has  ceased.  In  all  great 
nations,  centres  of  stagnation  form,  and  tend  to 
spread,  unless  the  life  be  replenished  from 
sources  outside  the  stagnant  group.  Both 
among  the  idle  rich,  and  in  the  hopeless  poor, 
such  centres  of  development  of  the  narcotic  mo- 
tives are  to  be  found.  They  are  the  expression 
of  old  age  and  disease  in  a  nation. 

Thus  the  intoxication  motives  in  the  individ- 
ual and  the  race  run  parallel  to  one  another. 
In  the  play  of  normal  childhood,  in  the  exuber- 
ant feeling  of  adolescence,  in  its  crude  forces 
and  pioneer  spirit,  we  see  the  motives  that 
lead  to  maturity  and  a  broad,  full  life,  paral- 
leling the  periods  of  growth  in  the  race.  Old 
age  in  both  brings  in  the  narcotic  motives,  and 
in  both,  whenever  there  is  interference  with 
the  normal  processes  of  growth,  when  there  is 
premature  strain  or  disease,  abnormal  motives 
may  creep  in,  in  the  midst  of  progress,  and  old 
age  ensues  before  childhood  is  past.  Whenever 
the  growth  force  is  weakened,  premature  mo- 
tives of  pain  and  fatigue  take  the  place  of  the 
normal  intoxication  impulses. 

Such  strong  motives  as  the  intoxication  im- 
pulses could  not  have  failed  to  leave  their  im- 
press at  every  step  upon  language  and  litera- 
ture. The  origin  of  wine  is  a  frequent  theme  in 
primitive  philosophies,  in  folk  lore  and  in  pop- 


208     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

ular  belief.  Its  remarkable  effect  upon  the  lan- 
guage, the  extraordinary  number  of  synonyms 
for  intoxication,  especially  in  popular  speech, 
show  how  profoundly  this  motive  has  affected 
thought  and  feeling,  and  indicate  what  a  power- 
ful undercurrent  it  has  become  whenever 
it  has  failed  to  be  transformed  into  higher  mo- 
tives. In  the  literature  of  drink  the  two  main 
drinking  motives,  those  of  intoxication  and  of 
narcosis,  are  expressed  in  an  exaggerated  form 
in  a  way  which  shows  many  interesting  by- 
paths of  human  thought.  In  medicine,  too,  in 
the  doctrine  of  stimulus,  the  intoxication  im- 
pulses can  be  traced,  influencing  the  course  of 
practice,  and  causing  the  disproportionate  use 
of  drugs  that  directly  affect  consciousness.  <*1~ 

The  stimulant-narcotics,  though  they  vary 
much  in  their  effects  from  one  to  another,  all 
are  similar  in  their  power  of  both  exciting  and 
depressing  the  activity  of  living  tissues.  This 
is  true,  in  general,  both  of  large  and  of  small 
doses,  though  precisely  the  physiological 
mechanism  of  these  effects  is  the  subject  of 
much  difference  of  opinion.  Some  physiolo- 
gists deny  altogether  that  alcohol  has  in  a  true 
sense  a  direct  stimulating  effect  upon  the  tis- 
sues, and  others  assert  that  its  narcotic  effects 
are  for  the  most  part  due  to  redirection  of 
energies,  and  are  not  the  result  of  a  narcotising 
of  the  tissues  themselves.  But  whenever  either 


SUMMAEY  OF  FACTS  209 

motor  or  mental  aspects  of  the  effect  of  alcohol 
are  tested,  the  typical  course  of  excitation  fol- 
lowed by  depression  is  usually  found.    Experi- 
ments made  with  small  doses  of  alcohol  to  deter- 
mine its  effect  upon  various  motor  and  mental 
processes  show,  typically,  slight  improvement 
followed  by  depression.    No  very  large  amount    . 
of  alcohol  can  be  taken  without  lessening  appre-  >/ 
ciably  the  amount  of  mental  work  that  can  be 
done  in  a  given  time. 

A  state  or  process  of  intoxication  caused  by 
large  doses  of  alcohol  is  similar  in  nature  to 
the  effects  of  the  small  dose,  but  is  more  com- 
plex.   An  alcoholic  intoxication  is  essentially 
a  succession  of  emotional  states,  at  first  an  ex- 
altation of  feeling,  and  then  depression.    Nor- 
mal  limits,   both   of  pleasure   and   pain,   are    / 
passed,  and  with  the  widening  of  the  emotional  J 
field,  is  an  increase  in  the  activity  of  associ- 
ations, or  at  least  a  greater  freedom  in  their 
expression.    In  the  stage  of  exaltation  there  is 
a  sense  of  experiencing  more  abundant  life, 
social  contact  is  widened,  belief  is  quickened, 
and  the  external  world  loses  its  control  over  the 
mental  processes.    Activity  is  determined  from 
within.    The  individual  feels  a  glow  as  of  an 
ideal  life.    Life  seems  for  the  time  richer  in 
meaning,  there  is  a  definite  moment  when  a 
sense  of  lost  control  is  experienced,  and  the  mind 
begins  to  flow  free  of  its  acquired  inhibitions, 


210     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

inner  and  outer.  This  feeling  of  freedom  and 
of  expansion  of  the  individual  is  the  condition 
sought  in  intoxication,  and  is  the  source  of  the 
craving  for  the  state. 

What  the  physiological  basis  of  the  series 
of  mental  changes  in  intoxication  is,  cannot 
as  yet  be  determined  with  certainty.  Alcohol 
affects  different  tissues  differently,  both  in 
order  of  time,  and  possibly  in  the  character  of 
the  effect.  We  may  suppose  that  stimulating 
effects,  narcotic  effects,  the  results  of  the  release 
of  lower  mechanisms  by  the  depression  of  the 
higher,  and  the  effects  of  redistribution  of 
energies  and  tensions  go  on  together.  There 
is  evidence  to  indicate  that  those  functions  most 
closely  connected  with  pleasure  and  displeasure 
are  singled  out  by  the  alcohol  for  the  greatest 
effects,  and  that  this  change  in  the  physio- 
logical bases  of  pleasure  and  displeasure  consti- 
tutes the  central  change  in  intoxication.  The 
result  of  the  alcohol,  however  its  work  is  ac- 
complished, is  to  bring  into  activity  a  wider 
range  of  nervous  mechanisms,  under  less  con- 
trol from  the  organised  habits  of  the  individual 
than  in  the  normal  state. 

Two  general  types  of  organisation  favour  the 
acquisition  of  habits  of  excessive  or  morbid  use 
of  alcohol:  the  undeveloped  type,  and  the  de- 
generate, over-sensitive,  or  otherwise  morbid 
nervous  organisation.  The  low  organism  can- 


SUMMAEY  OF  FACTS  211 

not  transform  lower  into  higher  enthusiasms; 
it  is  over  suggestible,  and  its  conduct  is  deter- 
mined by  least  resistance,  by  the  environment 
with  which  it  comes  into  contact.  The  degen- 
erate is  subject  to  excessive  use  of  alcohol 
because  of  ill-balance  of  the  nervous  forces. 
He  is  more  likely  to  drink  from  motives  of  pain 
and  fatigue,  and  to  seek  narcotic  effects  of 
drugs.  True  dipsomania  is  best  explained  as  a 
reversion  to  primitive  physiological  rhythms, 
due  to  the  instability  of  higher  strata  of  inhibi- 
tions. 

A  study  of  cases  of  inebriety  shows  that  in 
one  of  its  motives  alcoholic  excess  is  an  adoles- 
cent phenomenon.  It  grows  out  of  a  normal 
and  universal  desire  for  the  largest  and  most 
intense  life,  and  becomes  established  as  excess 
or  disease,  because  of  imperfect  development  of 
the  individual,  due  to  inner  defect,  or  outer  cir- 
cumstance, or  both. 

Contrary  to  popular  belief  a  close  study  of 
the  inner  life  of  the  inebriate  fails  to  show,  in 
the  great  majority  of  cases,  anything  that  can 
be  called  a  craving  for  alcohol,  especially  as  a 
physical  need,  induced  by  alcoholic  excess.  The 
habit  is  social  in  expression,  and  is  continued 
only  under  the  influence  of  social  suggestion. 
The  only  chronic  craving  for  alcohol  which  can 
be  detected  is  in  the  neurotic  case,  in  which  gen- 
eral distress,  fatigue  and  pain  are  quite  likely  to 


212     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEBANCE 

be  mistaken  for  a  specific  need  of  alcohol.  But 
even  in  these  cases  the  craving  for  drink  is 
highly  plastic,  and  subject  to  mental  control. 
The  craving  for  alcohol  is  a  complex  mental  at- 
titude ;  it  has  its  roots  in  the  social  life ;  and  it  is 
readily  changed  into  other  forms  of  desire.  It 
is  strongest  and  least  susceptible  to  treatment 
during  the  most  active  decades  of  a  man's  life, 
and  is  liable  to  sudden  cessation  or  easy  control 
at  the  beginning  of  senescence.  It  is  not  a  thing 
in  itself,  but  is  closely  related  to  all  a  man's  in- 
terests, social  and  even  religious,  and  is  renewed 
each  day  by  his  most  natural  and  necessary 
associations. 

The  narcotic  motive  seems  to  reach  its  height 
later,  in  the  early  thirties,  when  there  is  the 
first  decline  in  interest  in  life;  it  is  more  ab- 
normal, likely  to  remain  longer,  and  to  retain 
hold  of  a  man  even  into  old  age.  It  is  indeed 
essentially  an  instinct  of  old  age,  a  longing  for 
relief  from  pain,  for  rest,  and  for  return  to  a 
pristine^  state  of  health. 

T^he"  great  number  of  theories  about  the  in- 
toxication impulse  and  the  many  points  of  view 
from  which  it  has  been  observed  show  both  its 
complexity  and  the  intricate  relations  of  it  to 
normal  life  interests.  Some  have  tried  to  ex- 
plain it  as  aj  physical  craving,  normal  or  abnor- 
mal, as  an  effect  of  alcohol  upon  the  protoplasm 
of  the  body.  |  Jt  is  called  a  second  nature,  an  ac- 


SUMMARY  OF  FACTS  •  213 

quired  habit,  an  instinct  in  the  making.  %  Some 
have  found  in  it  only  a  desire  to  escape  pain, 
others  a  wish  to  break  up  the  monotony  of  life, 
a  desire  to  stimulate  the  ego,  a  by-product  of 
mental  evolution,  and  a  specific  craving. 

Many  of  these  views  were  found  to  contain 
partial  truth,  and  to  apply  to  some  phase  of  the 
question;  some  only  to  the  extremely  morbid 
case,  or  the  special  condition  of  extreme  intoxi- 
cation or  long-continued,  uninterrupted  use  of 
alcohol.  Particularly  that  view  which  regards 
the  craving  for  alcohol  as  a  physical  craving 
or  a  specific  mental  craving  was  found  to  be 
untenable,  and  out  of  harmony  with  all  the 
facts.  There  is  little  evidence  that  anything 
like  a  specific  craving  exists,  or  that  a  specific 
desire  for  alcoHol  can  be  transmitted  to  off- 
spring as  a  result  of  the  habit  of  the  parent. 
These  erroneous  views  have  done  much  to  pre- 
vent the  right  practical  attitude  towards  the 
problems  of  temperance.  The  intoxication  mo- 
tive cannot  be  understood  until  it  is  seen  in  its 
normal  relations.  It  is  not  a  specific  morbid 
craving  but  one  form  of  expression  of  a  general 
attitude,  connected  with  mental  evolution.  Out 
of  the  craving  for  states  of  high  intensity  of 
consciousness  has  been  developed  mental  power 
which  has  been  applied  in  many  directions,  and 
which,  under  control  and  organised,  is  the  ten- 
sion that  underlies  long-continued  effort  and 


,  214     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

work.  These  states,  and  the  impulse  or  instinct 
to  attain  them,  have  therefore  been  favoured  by 
selection,  and  types  of  nervous  organism  have 
been  produced  in  which  there  is  both  capacity 
for  strong,  intense  action,  and  a  desire  to  exert 
the  forces  of  the  organism  to  the  utmost  limits. 
This  method  of  mental  evolution  has  necessT 
tated  stages  of  crude  and  uncontrolled  force  and 
enthusiasm,  and  has  been  the  means  of  intro- 
ducing morbid  types  and  diseases  into  the  world. 
The  craving  for  intoxication  is  a  desire  that 
can  be  satisfied  in  many  divergent  ways,  and  the 
practical  problem  of  its  control  consists,  as  we 
/I  shall  see,  in  bringing  its  lower  expressions  to 
"^higher  forms.  Evolution  is  not  directed  specif- 
ically against  the  craving  for  alcohol,  either  to 
produce  or  to  eliminate  it,  but  is  producing  a 
certain  type  of  nervous  mechanism  in  which 
there  is  a  balance  between  desire  and  control. 
Any  individual  not  capable  of  being  brought 
into  the  wide  area  of  variability  that  is  nor- 
mal, tends  to  be  eliminated;  but  there  is  no 
evolutionary  process  directed  against  alcohol  as 
such,  and  in  a  sense  the  presence  or  absence  of 
alcohol  is  an  unessential  factor  in  the  present 
evolution  of  man.  Not  alcohol  itself,  but  the 
motives  for  its  excessive  use  must  be  attacked. 
Temperance  grows  out  of  an  ideal  of  social 
service  and  individual  efficiency,  and  movements 
toward  it  and  toward  total  abstinence  must  be 


SUMMARY  OF  FACTS  215 

tested  by  fitness  to  further  social  welfare.  To 
attack  the  use  of  alcoholic  drinks  as  sin,  without 
considering  concretely  the  nature  of  its  sinful- 
ness,  is  a  narrow  service  to  the  ideal,  and  must 
be  superseded  by  more  rational  and  more  posi- 
tive  endeavour. 


THE  PEACTICAL  PKOBLEM 


'CHAPTER  xi 

THE    PRACTICAL   PROBLEM 

THE  practical  questions  of  intoxication  and  the 
use  of  intoxicants  and  narcotics  generally,  cen- 
tre about  three  problems,  which,  though  distin- 
guishable for  the  purposes  of  discussion,  must 
be  studied  in  the  light  of  the  same  general  prin- 
ciples. To  derive  a  theory  and  general  stand- 
point for  the  study  of  the  practical  problems 
has  been  the  main  purpose  of  all  the  preceding 
study.  We  have  not  tried,  it  is  true,  to  deduce 
from  any  fundamental  position  or  law  the  prin- 
ciples which  explain  intoxication  and  appraise 
its  moral  worth,  but  have  approached  the  sub- 
ject from  various  points  of  view,  and  have 
followed  facts  to  see  whither  they  would  lead. 
The  result  is  not  a  definite  theory  or  single  prin- 
ciple, but  a  general  view  of  mental  and  physical 
development,  a  picture  of  nature's  scheme  of 
production  of  the  higher  mental  traits  from  the 
lower,  within  which  the  place  of  the  intoxication 
motive  has  been  traced. 

The  final  task  is  to  approach  the  practical 
questions  with  these  view-points  in  mind,  not 
trying  to  deduce  practical  consequences  directly 

219 


220     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

from  them,  but  using  them  as  explanatory  prin- 
ciples to  broaden  the  vision  of  practical  sense 
and  prudential  act.  Thus  we  may  perhaps  pre- 
vent, radical  and  shortsighted  conclusions,  tem- 
per the  fanaticism  of  the  narrow  reformer,  and 
see  the  problems  in  the  breadth  and  perspective 
in  which  they  must  be  studied,  if  we  are  to 
act  rationally. 

The  three  questions  of  practical  public  inter- 
est, about  which  most  of  the  problems  of  tem- 
perance centre  are : 

(1)  Education  of  the  child  with  reference  to 
temperance  and  the  use  of  intoxicants  gener- 
ally.   This  includes  the  problem  of  instruction 
in  the  physiology  and  hygiene  of  alcohol,  ethical 
teaching,  and  other  resources  of  the  school  in 
leading  children  toward  an  ideal  of  a  temperate 
life. 

(2)  The  problem  of  the  saloon.    In  this  con- 
nection appear  the  problems  of  legal  enactment 
in  regard  to  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  liquor, 
the  questions  of  public  approval  or  disapproval 
of    all    forms    of    drinking;    and    considered 
broadly,  estimation  of  the  evils  of  club  life,  and 
of  various  organisations  that  favour  the  in- 
crease of  intoxication ;  problems  of  public  recre- 
ation and  hygiene ;  of  the  condition  of  the  work- 
ing man  and  provisions  for  the  welfare  of  the 
lower  classes.    The  problem  spreads  out  broad- 


THE  PRACTICAL  PROBLEM       221 

ly  into  questions  of  social  ethics,  hygiene  and 
public  education. 

(3)  The  care,  control,  and  cure  of  the  exces- 
sive and  abnormal  user  of  intoxicants.  Here 
enters  the  problem  of  punishment  for  drunken- 
ness, estimation  of  various  methods  of  cure  of 
intoxication  habits,  questions  of  the  prevention 
of  hereditary  influences,  and  others  that  arise 
in  controlling  the  acts  of  the  excessive  drinker. 

It  is  not  within  the  scope  of  this  volume  to 
follow  out  in  detail  all  these  problems.  The 
purpose  is  to  apply  certain  general  psycho- 
logical standpoints  to  each  of  these  questions,  in 
order  to  suggest  a  basis  from  which  they  may 
be  discussed.  It  is,  indeed,  rather  in  keeping 
problems  open  and  experimental  than  in  arriv- 
ing at  fixed  conclusions  that  such  principles 
have  value. 


CHAPTER  XH 

THE   SALOON   AND   THE    CLUB 

AFTER  such  a  preliminary  study  of  the  facts 
about  alcoholic  intoxication,  and  the  impulses 
which  motivate  it,  the  problem  of  the  saloon  can 
be  approached  with  more  confidence  than  from 
the  purely  moral  point  of  view.  Like  all  social 
problems  it  is  complex.  Scientific  conclusions 
alone  cannot  decide  its  questions.  Science  can 
explain  the  situation,  and  suggest  ways  and 
means  of  controlling  it.  In  actual  practice 
there  are  many  considerations  of  expediency. 
Many  interests  are  involved  in  the  saloon. 

The  saloon  is  a  situation  which  must  be  ob- 
served and  analysed  before  it  is  dealt  with 
practically.  All  its  elements  must  be  taken 
fairly  into  consideration.  Both  its  ethical  and 
its  social  aspects  must  be  studied,  both  its  prac- 
tical and  theoretical  problems.  It  must  be  re- 
garded from  the  point  of  view  of  economics,  of 
physical  and  mental  hygiene,  of  medicine,  of 
biology,  and  of  psychology.  All  this  makes  a 
formidable  programme,  and  as  yet  the  evidence 
is  all  too  meager.  But  meantime  we  must  do 
something  about  the  saloon.  We  must  vote  for 

222 


THE  SALOON  AND  THE  CLUB  223 

or  against  it,  and  must  enact  laws  of  one  kind  or 
another  or  refrain  from  enacting  them.  We 
take,  therefore,  whatever  scientific  evidence 
there  is  at  hand,  exert  our  common  sense,  and 
try  to  gain  the  largest  view  possible  of  the  situ- 
ation. That,  it  can  be  claimed,  is  not  commonly 
attempted.  Opponents  and  advocates  of  the 
saloon  there  are  in  plenty,  but  there  is  too  little 
of  painstaking  study  of  all  its  aspects. 

Four  questions  can  be  raised  about  the  saloon, 
about  which  we  can  reasonably  expect  to  obtain 
fruitful  information  from  the  ^psychological 
point  of  view.  These  are : 

1.  What  evils  are  caused  by  the  saloon,  or  are 
most  intimately  connected  with  it? 

2.  What  normal  elements,  if  any,  does  the 
saloon  possess?    What  useful  function,  if  any, 
does  it  perform  in  society? 

3.  What  is  the  effect,  in  regard  to  these  evils 
and  possible  elements  of  good,  of  abolishing  the 
saloon? 

4.  Is  there  anything  which  may  be  substituted 
for  the  saloon,  which  shall  have  none  or  less  of 
its  evils  and  also  contain  positive  elements  of 
good? 

The  form  of  these  questions,  it  is  true,  indi- 
cates certain  prejudices.  Evils  are  recognised, 
and  possibility  of  good,  in  advance  of  examining 
the  evidence.  The  former  can  scarcely  be  de- 
nied; the  latter,  we  are  prepared  and  enjoined 


224  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

to  look  for,  after  considering  the  place  of  the 
intoxication  impulses  in  mental  development. 

What  are  the  evils  of  the  saloon?  Many  will 
say  that  these  are  so  obvious  that  they  will  need 
no  enumeration.  The  saloon  is  an  unmitigated 
evil  and  nuisance,  the  creation  of  the  lowest  ele- 
ment in  man's  nature,  the  tool  of  base  interests, 
and  the  only  remedy  is  to  destroy  it  root  and 
branch.  What  are  the  evils  which  so  condemn 
it?  ^len  waste  both  time  and  money  in  the 
saloon.  vThey  neglect  their  duties  of  home  and 
business,  and  thus  inflict  hardship  upon  their 
families.  By  making  a  man  poor,  it  lowers  his 

v  social  standing  and  that  of  his  family.  x  Pov- 
erty brings  disease  through  starved  bodies  and 
starved  minds.  The  man  himself  injures  his 

v  health,  ^blunts  his  moral  sense,  acquires  disor- 
ders of  the  whole  being  which  he  may  transmit 
in  one  way  or  another  to  his  offspring.  These 
evils  spread  beyond  the  individual  and  his  fam- 
ily; the  man  who  drinks  to  excess  produces  con- 
ditions in  his  environment  which  perpetuate  the 
evil  of  drinking.  The  saloon  creates  thus  an  at- 
mosphere of  low  thought  and  action ;  and  keeps 
alive  in  sociely  low_  ideals  both  of  public  and 
private  life. 

The  saloon  is  also  in  other  ways  an  evil  ele- 
ment in  the  social  life.  It  is  the  tool^of  petty 
and  unscrupulous  politics ;  it  is  a  power  which 
is  sometimes  said  to  control  municipal  polities ; 


THE  SALOON  AND  THE  CLUB  225 

and  it  has  a  far-reaching  effect  upon  all  insti- 
tutions; upon  education,  business,  and  even 
upon  the  church. 

All  these  evils  are  certainly  centred  about 
the  saloon,  and  it  needs  little  argument  to  con- 
vict it  of  most  of  them.    Yet  the  whole  story  is  J 
not  told  until  we  know  what  becomes  of  all  these 
evils  when  the  saloon  is  abolished. 

What  elements  of  good,  if  any,  does  the  saloon 
possess?  The  most  frequently  heard  argument 
for  the  saloon  is  that  it  is  the  poj^n^'s^lub. 
The  claim  is  made  that  public  opinion  about  the 
saloon  is  based  upon  the  comparatively  few 
cases  in  which  excessive  drinking  is  caused  by 
the  saloon,  and  that  it  condemns  the  whole  insti- 
tution unfairly.  The  workingman,  it  is  said, 
would  have  no  place  of  social  entertainment,  if 
it  were  not  for  the  saloon.  This  is  at  least  an 
important  suggestion.  We  have  been  obliged 
to  put  great  weight  upon  the  socialising  influ- 
ences of  alcohol,  among  all  primitive  societies. 
The  lower'  classes  of  society  are  essentially 
primitive.  The  saloon  has  a  social  intention, 
and  to  this  extent  is  good.  This  social  charac- 
ter of  the  saloon  has  not  been  sufficiently  consid- 
ered by  the  most  radical  anti-saloon  party.  So 
important  is  the  socialising  of  the  lower  classes, 
or  of  all  classes,  that  any  institution  which  can 
show  that  it  tends  to  help  in  this  direction  is 
entitled  to  a  respectful  hearing.  One  important 


226     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

function  of  social  contact,  and  a  free  flow  of 
ideas  and  ideals  among  all  classes  of  society,  is 
that  it  creates  common  knowledge  and  interests. 
Ideals  of  country,  home,  humanity,  of  partyj" 
and  of  cause, — all  such  ideals  are  produced  and 
sustained  only  in  a  freely  communicating  social 
flux,  of  personal  contact  of  man  with  man.  The 
saloon  is  certainly  the  great  meeting  place  of 
common  men ;  it  is  a  f ulcral  point  where  one  of 
the  most  important  impulses  of  man  is  brought 
into  activity.  It  is  a  live  spark.  But  the  sa- 
loon, it  is  true,  but  pitifully  performs  its  true 
function.  It  does  not  fully  socialise.  That, 
however,  alcohol  has  performed  a  function  at 
just  this  point,  by  breaking  down  barriers,  by 
stimulating  ideals  and  belief,  by  conveying  to 
the  mind  standards  of  social  happiness  and 
breadth  of  emotional  life,  can  scarcely  be 
doubted  by  anyone  who  examines  the  evidence. 
Alcohol  favours  the  common  possession  of  ideas. 
The  world  is  a  co-ordinated  world  to  a  greater 
extent  than  it  would  otherwise  be,  because  of 
alcohol ;  and  presumably,  because  of  the  saloon. 
The  social  function  of  the  saloon  can  be  un- 
derstood better  by  comparing  it,  in  all  fairness 
and  seriousness,  with  other  institutions  that  aid 
in  socialising  the  common  man.  There  is  first, 
of  course,  the  church,  to  which  perhaps  one  in 
five  is  attached.  Here  various  ideals  are  cer- 
tainly made  common  possession.  There  is  also 


THE  SALOON  AND  THE  CLUB  227 

the  daily  newspaper.  Through  this,  opinion  is 
moulded  and  certain  standards  of  conduct  and 
belief  are  popularised.  Then  there  is  the  place 
of  amusement,  which,  as  the  recreational  life 
of  the  people  is  now  carried  on,  is  not  yet  fully 
social.  The  theatre,  the  concert,  is  individually 
enjoyed ;  but  there  is  little  exchange  of  thought 
or  sentiment.  The  occupation  may  be  much  or 
little  socialising;  usually  it  is  the  latter. 
Specialised  labour  confines  a  man's  thought  to 
a  narrow  aspect  of  a  large  process.  The  mean- 
ing and  intention  of  the  whole  seldom  comes  to 
his  mind.  His  loyalty  to  his  task  is  slight,  and 
the  points  of  contact  with  his  fellow  workers 
are  few.  The  workingman's  union,  now  un- 
dergoing so  remarkable  a  development,  is  an 
expression  of  a  long  deferred  group  conscious- 
ness for  which  man  has  had  the  motive,  but 
which  he  has  lacked  the  initiative  to  produce. 
On  the  recreational  side,  one  other  important 
factor  has  arisen  almost  from  nothing  during 
the  past  few  years.  This  is  the  settlement  and 
the  social  movement  among  the  lowest  classes. 
By  this  movement,  means  of  contact  are  greatly 
increased,  and  by  this  and  similar  movements, 
for  the  first  time  the  production  of  ideals  in 
the  lower  classes  has  been  brought  effectively 
under  direct  personal  control.  Accompanying 
this  idea  is  now  a  vast  movement,  expressed  in 
many  forms  of  which  the  socialising  of  the  peo- 


228     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

pie 'is  the  purpose.  This  normal  socialising  is 
civilisation  experimentally  and  consciously  car- 
ried on,  and  it  is  one  of  the  great  ideas  of  the 
age. 

Of  all  the  socialising  influences  of  the  present 
,  time,  however,  it  can  be  said  that  the  effects  of 
\alcohol  represent  a  greater  attraction  than  any 
other  force  in  bringing  men  together  in  inti- 
mate relations.  The  saloon  is  still  the  avenue 
through  which  the  great  undercurrent  of  idea 
and  ideal  spreads,  both  the  good  and  the  evil. 
It  would  be  useless  to  try  to  estimate  how  much 
is  good,  and  how  much  evil,  but  the  case  would 
not  be  fairly  presented  unless,  beside  the  pic- 
ture of  evil  which  has  been  drawn,  the  saloon 
be  placed  in  its  most  favourable  light,  by  de- 
scribing the  gain  which  men  under  the  best 
conditions  of  its  present  organisation  may  get 
from  it,  and  contribute  through  it,  to  society. 

In  the  first  place,  the  saloon  is  certainly  a 
^school  of  rough  virtues.  In  it  a  man  may  ac- 
quire self-control,  may  learn  standards  of  con- 
duct, which  are  at  least  better  than  none  at  all. 
He  acquires  certain  ideals:  of  loyalty  to  party, 
citizenship  and  patriotism.  The  social  spirit 
is  fostered  in  him,  correcting  the  narrow  indi- 
vidualism of  the  home  and  occupation.  Such 
influences,  which  keep  a  man  in  touch  with  the 
common  funds  of  belief  and  custom,  with  that 
undercurrent  of  thought  which  never  becomes 


THE  SALOON  AND  THE  CLUB  229 

in  a  nation  formulated  into  code  or  creed,  do 
contribute  to  the  making  of  national  life.  The 
results  are  drawn  upon  when  national  spirit  is 
put  to  the  test,  in  time  of  war  or  public  calam- 
ity; in  times  when  the  co-ordinations  of  society 
are  severely  tested  in  any  crisis.  The  saloon  is 
a  connecting  link  in  the  chain  of  common  be- 
liefs, upon  which,  to  a  far  greater  extent  than 
many  appear  to  understand,  the  welfare  of  a 
nation  depends.  Anyone  who  has  looked  into 
the  undercurrents  of  thought  which  circulate 
from  one  end  of  the  country  to  the  other  must 
have  been  astonished  at  the  speed  with  which 
the  unwritten  word,  the  custom,  belief,  and 
opinion,  the  unformulated  idea  and  ideals, 
spread  through  these  channels  of  communica- 
tion. We  know  that  the  larger  the  city  the 
greater  is  the  difficulty  of  eliminating  the  sa- 
loon. The  reason  is  in  part  that,  in  the  larger 
community,  the  channels  of  communication  and 
commonising  of  ideas  are  more  broken,  and  the 
part  played  by  the  saloon  is  more  important 
than  in  the  smaller  community. 

What  then  is  gained,  and  what  is  lost  by  abol- 
ishing the  saloon?    Abolishing  the  saloon  has 
certainly  had  the  effect  of  diminishing  the  num-      / 
ber  of  excessive  users  of  alcohol,  has  held  in   J 
check  somewhat  the  lower  motives  of  intoxica- 
tion, has  diminished  the  economic  waste  from 
excessive   drinking.    The  few   certainly  have 


230     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

been  benefited,  in  obvious  ways.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  is  easy  to  over-estimate  the  good. 
Withdrawal  of  the  ready-to-hand  social  element 
in  drinking  drives  some  to  more  solitary  forms 
of  the  vice.  Many  drink  quite  as  excessively 
as  before,  and  add  to  their  former  low  motives 
complicity  in  the  breaking  of  law.  Vices-* are 
interchangeable,  and  in  many,  suppression  of 
the  habit  of  drinking  increases  other  vices  and 
abnormalities,  no  better,  but  less  easily  ob- 
served. Crime  is  more  or  less  reduced  in 
amount,  especially  the  minor  crimes  that  result 
from  the  instinct  of  combat. 

Abolishing  the  saloon,  speaking  for  the  other 
side  of  the  case,  removes  a  source  of  socialisa- 
tion of  the  lower  classes;  takes  away  a  factor 
in  moulding  mental  force,  to  which  we  have 
been  obliged  to  attach  significance.  Merely 
closing  the  saloon,  as  a  device  to  hold  intem- 
perance in  check  and  to  secure  the  advantages 
to  a  community  of  sobriety,  certainly  sacrifices 
one  important  resource.  It  takes  away  the  so- 
cial life  of  a  great  number  of  people,  removes 
the  most  important  factor  in  the  recreational 
life  of  the  lower  classes,  or  puts  it  under  the 
ban  of  the  law,  and  to  this  extent  increases  the 
evils  of  monotonous  specialisation  of  labour,  of 
narrow  routine,  sterile  emotional  life,  and  nar- 
row outlook. 

And  yet,  in  spite  of  the  relative  good  of  the 


THE  SALOON  AND  THE  CLUB  231 

saloon,  the  present  writer  agrees  with  what  he 
believes  to  be  the  inevitable  course  of  present 
tendency  and  public  opinion,  that  the  saloon 
must  go.  The  drinking  place,  the  saloon,  in 
which  the  interest  centres  in  drinking,  is  a  poor 
institution  compared  with  that  which  may  be 
made  to  take  its  place,  and  which  is  certain  in 
the  long  run  to  supersede  it.  But  the  factors 
of  good  and  evil  in  the  present  saloon  must  both 
be  estimated,  and  we  must  deliberately  put  the 
social  life  of  its  patrons  upon  a  better  basis. 

What  can  be  substituted  for  the  saloon,  which 
shall  contain  its  virtues,  and  avoid  its  evils? 
The  problem  is  still,  in  part  at  least,  experi- 
mental. The  method  of  total  abolition  of  the 
sale  of  liquors  is  or  has  been  decidedly  worth 
trial.  It  has  not  been  entirely  a  success,  for 
the  reason  that  it  was  a  radical,  narrow,  and 
negative  method.  The  whole  problem  was  not 
understood.  For  this  problem  is  nothing  less 
than  the  organisation  of  the  recreational  life  of 
the  people.  Before  this  can  be  done  rationally, 
we  must  understand  what  the  recreational  life 
is,  what  it  should  contain,  what  it  most  lacks  at 
the  present  time. 

Daily  labour  takes  up  a  third  of  the  time  of 
the  average  man,  and  another  third  is  occupied 
in  sleep.  These  two  periods  of  work  and  sleep, 
are  provided  for  in  a  fairly  definite  and  normal 
way  for  the  majority  of  people.  The  free  third 


232     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEKANCE 

of  life  is  unorganised,  is  the  source  ot  most  of 
the  evils  and  the  waste  in  human  life.  The 
average  man  is  in  the  position  of  not  knowing 
what  to  do  with  his  recreational  hours.  He  has 
no  plan  of  making  them  count  for  anything,  and 
he  is  not  able  to  express  an  intelligent  idea 
about  the  meaning  of  a  third  of  his  life,  except 
to  say  that  he  uses  as  much  of  it  as  is  necessary 
for  certain  minor  tasks,  tries  to  rest,  and  have 
what  amusement  he  can. 

The  psychology,  the  physiology,  and  ethics 
of  recreation  constitute  a  profound  and  far- 
reaching  problem,  which  cannot  of  course  be 
treated  in  detail  in  a  chapter.  But  at  least  two 
functions  of  recreation  may  be  briefly  stated. 
The  first  function  is  to  reduce  the  tension  of 
daily  life,  and  bring  the  individual  down  or  up 
to  the  common  level,  upon  which  he  can  perform 
with  others  acts  that  are  restorative,  and  cre- 
ative of  power  and  enthusiasm.  The  second 
function  of  recreation  is  to  widen  out  the  indi- 
viduality of  the  man ;  ideally,  to  bring  him  into 
touch  with  all  life  interests.  Widening  and 
deepening  of  the  individuality,  then,  is  the  func- 
tion of  recreation.  If  it  is  the  purpose  of  the 
saloon  to  be  the  poor  man's  club,  the  chief 
source  of  his  recreation,  it  has  before  it  a  great 
and  solemn  duty  to  perform.  How  inade- 
quately it  performs  it,  need  not  now  be  said. 
The  positive  side  of  public  control  of  intemper- 


THE  SALOON  AND  THE  CLUB  233 

ance,  and  with  it,  of  many  other  evils,  centres 
in  the  organisation  of  the  recreational  life,  es- 
pecially of  the  common  people. 

What  becomes  of  the  saloon  in  the  ideal 
recreational  life?  The  saloon  is  a  narrow,  per- 
verted, and  selfish  institution,  which  in  its  pres- 
ent form  is  a  mere  nucleus  of  what  is  required. 
Alcohol  at  the  present  time  is  at  least  a  means 
of  collecting  men  for  the  purpose  of  socialisa- 
tion. For  one,  I  do  not  believe  the  time  has 
come  when  this  drawing  power  of  alcohol  can 
be  entirely  sacrificed  for  the  sake  of  a  tem- 
perance ideal.  It  is  likely  that  alcohol  must 
still  play  its  part,  for  a  long  time  to  come,  in 
the  socialising  of  the  masses,  though  it  may  be 
in  a  way  a  minor  part.  But  the  idea  of  the 
saloon  must  be  broadened,  and  transformed 
perhaps  beyond  recognition,  and  we  may  con- 
sider the  possibilities  of  the  institutional  saloon. 
The  institutional  saloon  must  provide  for  the 
development  and  satisfaction  of  all  the  nor- 
mal motives  that  bring  a  man  to  a  saloon,  and 
must  correct  the  abnormal  motives.  In  the 
recreational  institution  the  drinking  motive 
must  be  merged  with  others  and  so  be  con- 
trolled. 

The  business  of  manufacture  and  sale  of  li- 
quors is  a  conservative  business.  It  has  been 
able  to  control  and  use  for  its  advantage  power- 
ful passions  of  the  human  mind ;  and  controlling 


234     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

them,  it  lias  been  able  to  control  legislation,  to 
crush  out  competition.  The  saloon,  in  which 
liquor  is  sold  at  a  large  profit,  in  which  the 
interests  of  the  patron  are  not  considered,  is 
the  natural  result.  To  the  extent  that  the  liquor 
traffic  can  be  infused  with  the  spirit  of  normal 
business,  or  forced  to  adopt  it,  the  saloon  prob- 
lem will  in  part  take  care  of  itself.  If  this 
were  done,  the  same  organisation  of  the  smaller 
and  poorer  into  the  larger  as  has  taken  place 
in  other  lines  of  business  would  occur,  and  the 
saloon  would  be  superseded  by  the  larger,  more 
central  institution,  in  which  the  interests  of  the 
public  would  be  served,  in  which  moral  aspects 
of  the  use  of  intoxicants  would  be  considered, 
and  profits  reduced  by  giving  to  the  patron 
what  is  now  denied  him  by  the  saloon, — normal 
recreational  elements.  The  saloon  has  evolved 
but  little  for  lack  of  normal  competition.  The 
drawing  power  of  alcohol  and  the  social  needs 
of  the  people  have  been  so  great  that  there  has 
been  little  competition  for  the  recreational  in- 
terests of  the  masses.  It  is  likely  to  remain  a 
line  of  least  resistance.  Therefore,  it  seems, 
that  unless  the  whole  alcohol  industry  can  be 
reformed,  the  initiative  must  come  from  public 
sources,  or  large  organised  philanthropy.  This 
competition  of  public  and  private  philanthropy 
with  the  saloon,  we  already  see  in  the  recrea- 
tional movements  in  the  larger  cities, — in  the 


THE  SALOON  AND  THE  CLUB  235 

settlement,  the  recreational  centres  and  organ- 
isations, local  libraries,  and  the  like. 

In  the  efforts  to  combat  the  saloon  by  provid- 
ing public  recreation,  however,  the  function  of 
alcohol  is  not  yet  fully  understood.  It  may  still 
have  a  place,  and  it  may  for  a  long  time  be  an 
important  factor  in  the  control  of  the  recrea- 
tional life  of  the  people.  At  least  this  is  open 
to  experiment,  and  can  fully  be  determined  only 
so.  The  organised  recreational  institution 
must  compete  with  the  saloon  in  drawing  the 
public.  Competition  cannot  come  from  the  res- 
taurant, the  coffee  house,  and  the  temper- 
ance saloon.  The  substitution  of  non-alcoholic 
drinks,  of  tea  and  coffee  and  the  like,  for  the 
alcoholic  drinkf  does  not  satisfy  the  psychical 
motives  of  drinking.  The  love  of  excitement 
and  enthusiasm  that  keeps  the  alcohol  habit 
alive,  must  be  transformed,  but  not  suppressed 
nor  ignored. 

With  the  recreational  functions  of  the  in- 
stitutional saloon  (since  we  are  speaking  of 
ideals)  must  be  included  opportunity  for  sat- 
isfaction of  aesthetic  interests.  Here  enter  all 
the  possibilities  of  the  dramatic  and  musical 
arts,  including  dancing,  in  controlling  the  intoxi- 
cation motives.  But  this  is  not  all.  There 
should  be  provision  for  two  other  functions 
of  the  ideal  recreational  institution.  There 
should  be  educational  opportunity,  especially  in 


236     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

the  form  of  the  more  educational  pastimes,  and 
provision  for  the  cultivation  of  interests  which 
lead  to  avocation.  Thus  the  play  motive  may 
be  made  to  lead  on  to  practical  results,  even  to 
occupational  enthusiasms.  The  great  problem 
of  public  education,  at  the  present  time,  is  to 
provide  for  a  continuance  of  growth  and  a 
broadening  and  development  of  the  enthusiasms 
among  those  classes  in  which  there  must  be 
early  specialisation  of  labour.  It  is  this  raw 
material  of  enthusiasm  which  is  so  likely  to 
degenerate,  or  to  remain  at  a  low,  unproductive 
plane,  and  be  taken  up  in  low  forms  of  recrea- 
tion and  abnormal  habit,  that  must  be  directed. 
To  be  efficient,  power  must  not  only  be  created, 
but  it  must  be  directed  and  balanced,  and  the 
recreational  life  more  than  anything  else  has 
for  its  problem  the  distribution  of  interests,  and 
direction  of  them  into  proper  channels. 

Whether  or  not  the  present  analysis  of  the 
\    intoxication  motives  and  of  the  recreational  life 
i    \\has  been  correct,  the  soundness  of  the  stand- 
point from  which  the  problems  have  been  stud- 
ied can  hardly  be  questioned.     The  evils  of  the 
saloon   are   widespread,   and  they   are   deep- 
seated  in  our  social  life.    To  try  to  abolish 
these  evils  by  mere  legislation  is  a  narrow  and 
ineffective  means,  for  we  do  not  thus  control 
the  passions  that  keep  these  evils  alive.    No 


THE  SALOON  AND  THE  CLUB  237 

single  institution  will  ever  be  adequate  to  cope 
with  intemperance.  The  problem  is  nothing 
less  than  the  organisation  and  direction  of  the 
whole  recreational  life  of  the  people.  Wher- 
ever men  congregate  or  tend  to  organise  there 
is  presented  a  practical  problem  of  temperance. 
The  motives  thus  expressed  must  be  studied, 
and  directed  by  the  philanthropist  and  edu- 
cator. These  motives  cannot  be  suppressed, 
nor  can  motives  and  forces  be  created  merely  to 
hold  them  in  check.  Control  must  be  a  natural 
outgrowth  of  the  desires  themselves  which  are 
at  work  producing  evils. 

Intemperance  in  the  so-called  upper  classes, 
and  among  those  who  most  directly  derive  their 
habits  from  these  classes,  presents  peculiar  and 
difficult  practical  problems.  Especially  those 
who,  by  reason  of  wealth  and  favour,  are  able 
to  place  themselves  to  a  certain  extent  beyond 
the  reach  of  laws  and  the  influence  of  public  sen- 
timent and  education,  are  baffling.  And  yet  it  is 
in  this  tissue  of  society  that  some  of  the  worst 
conditions  in  a  nation  take  their  origin:  condi- 
tions which  favour  the  development  and  con- 
tagion of  disease  and  degenerative  ideas.  Un- 
like other  classes  they  are  but  little  influenced 
by  progressive  ideas  taking  rise  without  the 
class.  Their  ideals  are  inbred.  They  are 
moved  by  the  changing  and  shallow  motives  of 


238     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

fashion,  and  are  especially  prone  to  introduce 
the  unwholesome  ways  of  older  and  degenerate 
peoples  into  our  midst. 

As  society  is  at  present  constituted,  the  in- 
temperance of  these  upper  classes  is  not  amen- 
able to  control  by  any  measures  we  can  easily 
command.  The  true  remedy  is  educational,  a 
remedy  which,  perhaps,  abandons  hope  for  the 
present  adult  generation,  and  seeks  to  lay  a 
foundation  in  the  next.  A  method  which  shall 
seize  upon  and  mould  childhood  in  its  demo- 
cratic and  plastic  age  is  the  only  remedy  for 
intemperance  in  the  upper  classes  that  will  be 
permanently  effectual.  The  aim  must  be  to 
make  the  recreational  ideals  of  the  upper  classes 
altruistic  and  productive — to  direct  energies 
into  channels  which  turn  toward  the  improve- 
ment of  the  lower  classes.  An  ideal  of  public 
welfare  is  the  best  directive  force  of  the  unused 
energies  of  the  idle  and  privileged  members  of 
society.  So  long  as  self-improvement  and 
pleasure  absorb  the  energies  of  the  rich  we  shall 
not  check  their  intemperance,  nor  prevent  the 
production  of  destructive  habits  that  take  rise 
among  them.  The  only  radical  cure  for  intem- 
perance in  any  class  is  a  normal  zest  of  life 
expressed  in  productive  activity,  and  thus  hold- 
ing in  check  and  transforming  the  motives  of 
intemperance  that  arise  from  undirected  capac- 


THE  SALOON  AND  THE  CLUB  239 

ity  and  power,  and  from  a  weariness  of  life  in 
which  there  is  no  deep  satisfaction. 

Of  many  recent  studies  of  the  problem  of  the  saloon,  two 
seem  especially  to  have  reached  fundamental  principles.  Cal- 
kins, in  Substitutes  for  the  Saloon,  a  study  made  for  the  Com- 
mittee of  Fifty,  concludes  that  the  best  means  of  controlling 
the  evil  of  the  saloon  is  to  take  away  from  the  saloon  the 
function  of  entertainer  of  the  people,  and  develop  the  recrea- 
tional life  of  the  people  in  every  possible  way.  Various  means 
are  mentioned:  extension  of  peoples'  clubs  already  in  existence, 
development  of  workingmen's  clubs  (perhaps  granting  licenses 
to  them),  the  central  recreational  institute,  municipal  night 
schools,  lecture  courses,  industrial  schools,  reading  rooms,  set- 
tlements, lyceums,  billiard  halls,  dance  halls,  the  theatre,  es- 
pecially the  melodrama,  properly  conducted  pugilism,  all  ath- 
letics, public  baths,  parks  and  playgrounds,  the  peoples'  thea- 
tre, operas,  concerts — all  such  means  are  recommended  as  sub- 
stitutes for  the  saloon,  satisfying  normally  the  desires  which 
the  saloon  satisfies  abnormally. 

The  most  complete  outline  of  a  practical  method  of  substi- 
tuting normal  social  life  for  the  unwholesome  life  of  the  saloon 
has  been  made  by  Pa  ton,  in  Counter  Attractions  to  Publio 
Houses;  a  plan  that  has  already  been  worked  out  in  England 
with  good  results.  The  plan  is  essentially  an  organisation 
of  the  social  life  of  the  people,  through  local  social  clubs,  with 
a  central  organisation,  using  so  far  as  possible  schoolhouses 
and  other  public  properties,  and  leaving  the  control  mainly  in 
the  hands  of  the  people  themselves.  The  aim  of  the  organ- 
isation is  to  bring  together  in  an  effective  way  all  the  elements 
of  a  normal  social  life  for  the  people.  The  outline  contains 
provisions  also  for  the  extension  of  the  functions  of  the  even- 
ing departments  of  the  public  schools,  and  for  increased  effi- 
ciency of  the  Sunday  School  organisations. 


CHAPTER 

EDUCATIONAL   AND   PKEVENTIVE    MEASURES 

THIS  is  a  day  in  which  prevention  rather  than 
cure  of  social  evils  dominates  our  ideals  of  pub- 
lic welfare.  The  adult  generation  is  in  many 
ways  but  little  plastic  to  new  ideals,  and  some 
classes  of  society,  we  have  asserted,  are  quite 
unchangeable  in  all  their  ways,  except  as  they 
are  influenced  by  the  currents  of  fashion  which 
no  one  can  fully  predict  or  control.  It  is  far 
easier  to  teach  children  how  to  become  good 
citizens,  than  to  teach  adults  how  to  correct 
themselves.  In  other  words,  our  best  means  of 
controlling  all  social  evils  is  through  those  in- 
stitutions by  means  of  which  the  ideals  of  the 
progressive  public  come  into  direct  contact  with 
the  growing  child.  The  public  school,  more 
than  any  other  institution,  controls  the  future; 
and  now,  with  its  improved  methods,  its  widened 
scope,  and  with  the  auxiliary  resources  of  the 
public  playgrounds,  the  library  extension,  and 
other  public  educational  movements,  the  school 
is  in  a  better  position  than  ever  before  for  mak- 
ing rapid  headway  in  the  building  of  ideals 

240 


EDUCATIONAL  MEASURES        241 

which  shall  control  the  abnormal  and  immoral 
tendencies  in  society. 

Facts  have  been  brought  to  light  which  show 
clearly  what  motives  produce  the  evil  of  intem- 
perance, and  which  indicate  what  the  danger 
periods  are.  The  intemperate  life  is  a  social 
product,  and  its  raw  material  is  in  great  part 
the  undeveloped  or  perverted  growth  forces  of 
youth.  The  great  majority  of  youth  of  our 
public  schools  leave  the  control  of  the  school 
and  enter  occupational  life,  with  very  little  mo- 
mentum for  completing  their  mental  growth  in 
a  normal  way.  There  are  no  interests  strong 
enough  to  carry  on  normal  development,  the 
special  occupation  which  they  enter  upon  too 
often  lacks  interest;  it  does  not  absorb  the  en- 
thusiasm which  is  the  normal  product  of  the 
growth  forces.  Therefore,  the  enthusiasms  re- 
main upon  a  low  plane,  they  break  out  in  the 
line  of  least  resistance,  seek  satisfaction  in  un- 
productive and  unwholesome  social  relations, 
and  in  various  forms  of  excess.  Later  these 
undeveloped  desires,  these  potentialities  of 
happiness  that  have  gone  to  waste,  arise,  the 
ghosts  of  misspent  youth,  to  lead  on  to  narcotic 
habits,  to  indifference,  and  premature  mental 
old  age.  The  great  problem  of  education  at 
the  present  time  is  not  so  much  to  fit  youth  for 
special  work,  as  to  establish  interests  and  habits 
that  will  make  the  individual  a  complete  in- 


\ 


242     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

dividual,  and  correct  the  stunting  effects  of 
early  specialisation  in  occupation. 

What  can  the  public  school  do  to  prevent 
these  evils?  The  craving  for  intoxication,  and 
for  stimulants  and  narcotics,  we  have  had  much 
evidence  to  prove,  is  not  a  specific  craving.  It 
is  not  a  craving  that  can  be  satisfied  by  one  form 
of  habit  alone,  but  is  a  plastic  force,  capable  of 
direction  into  various  channels.  The  mistake 
often  made  in  dealing  with  all  the  practical 
problems  of  temperance  is  to  centre  effort  upon 
the  narrow  and  superficial  aspect  of  the  impulse 
that  shows  itself  in  the  habit  of  alcoholic  intoxi- 
cation, and  to  ignore  the  deeper  roots.  The 
function  of  education  is  difficult  to  perform 
just  in  proportion  as  the  whole  problem  is  un- 
derstood, and  easy  to  the  extent  that  teaching 
is  made  direct  and  specific.  Education  must 
prevent  the  intemperate  life  by  laying  a  certain 
foundation  for  a  normal  life  ;  and  for  this  there 
are  two  main  services  to  be  performed.  The 
school  must  prepare,  indirectly  at  least,  for  oc- 
cupational life,  both  by  training  in  the  funda- 
mental co-ordinations  of  industry,  and  by  estab- 
lishing those  social  and  moral  ideals  which 
alone  can  make  work  purposeful,  and  not 
merely  a  mechanical  task.  There  is  no  occu- 
pation, however  humble,  that  may  not  be  made 
thus  wholesome  and  normal.  The  second  func- 
tion of  the  school  is  to  establish  habits  and 


EDUCATIONAL  MEASURES       243 

interests  leading  to  a  broader  recreational  life, 
in  the  sense  in  which  we  have  already  used 
this  word.  Given  a  life  well  started  toward  a 
correct  balance  of  interests,  in  occupation  and 
recreation,  the  rest  can  be  left  to  take  care  of 
itself.  When  these  fundamental  principles  of 
training  are  understood,  one  has  the  clue  to  all 
the  special  resources  for  training  the  child  in 
habits  and  ideals  that  lead  to  the  temperate  life. 
Whoever  thinks  that  so  deep  a  social  habit  as 
drinking  can  easily  be  controlled,  that  the  in- 
dividual may  easily  be  fortified  against  the 
allurement  of  this  world-wide  passion  of  drink, 
is  greatly  mistaken. 

To  bring  these  principles  of  control  to  a 
sharper  focus  it  may  be  well  to  point  out  more 
specifically  the  means  of  fortifying  the  child 
against  intemperance,  most  ready  to  hand  in 
the  school.  Four  main  divisions  of  the  work 
can  be  made : 

1.  Specific  teaching  of  facts  about  alcohol. 

2.  Moral  teaching. 

3.  Industrial  education. 

4.  Training  in  recreational  interests. 

Of  all  the  educational  methods  of  dealing 
with  the  liquor  problem,  the  teaching  to  children 
of  the  facts  about  alcohol,  though  perhaps  of 
some  value  if  properly  done,  is  the  least  of  all 
in  importance.  As  commonly  taught  the  facts 
are  repeated  year  after  year,  and  memorised 


244     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

without  much  interest.  The  mere  facts  about 
the  use  of  alcohol,  if  they  are  honestly  con- 
sidered, do  not  by  any  means  point  to  total 
abstinence  with  absolute  certainty;  and  of 
course  this  is  the  lesson  that  the  school  is  try- 
ing to  impress.  Zeal  in  impressing  the  truth  of 
the  danger  of  excess  often  leads  the  teacher  to 
distort  the  facts.  The  spirit  in  which  this  is 
done  is  well  shown  by  the  remark  of  a  promi- 
nent temperance  lecturer,  with  whom  I  once 
remonstrated  for  stating  dogmatically  con- 
clusions which  were  decidedly  open  to  doubt, 
and  were  at  the  time  being  subjected  to  much 
scientific  discussion  and  experiment.  The 
lecturer  replied,  "We  shall  continue  to  teach 
the  facts,  until  science  has  disproved  them." 
There  is  a  tendency  in  scientific  thought  toward 
the  belief  that  alcohol  is  in  some  sense  a  food; 
that  its  permanent  deleterious  effects  upon 
body  and  mind,  except  when  used  in  great  ex- 
cess, are  less  than  was  once  supposed.  At  least 
the  picturing  to  young  children  of  the  gross 
effects  of  extremely  abnormal  drinking  as 
typical  results  (cases  in  which  there  is  almost 
always  abnormality  causing  the  drinking  rather 
than  the  reverse)  is  unwholesome  and  unaes- 
thetic;  and  tends  to  impress  wrong  ideals  of 
human  life,  as  well  as  to  contradict  the  facts 
of  science. 
For  the  most  part,  too,  the  young  and  healthy 


EDUCATIONAL  MEASURES        245 

person  is  not  much  impressed  by  the  picture  of 
dangers  to  the  body  from  excess.  He  has  an  un- 
bounded confidence  in  the  endurance  of  his 
own  body,  and  although  he  may  imagine  that 
someone  else  may  be  injured,  it  is  difficult  for 
him  to  believe  that  he  will  become  a  drunkard, 
or  will  ruin  his  health  by  drinking.  Moreover, 
it  is  not  those  who  know  most  about  the  harm- 
ful effects  of  alcohol  who  are  least  likely  to  be 
injured  by  it,  and  no  one  knows  better  its  ter- 
rors than  the  drunkard  himself. 

Teaching  of  the  facts  about  alcohol  should 
be  brief,  not  extended  over  all  the  years  of 
school  life,  but  centred  about  the  early  adoles- 
cent period.  The  relation  of  alcohol  to  physical 
strength,  to  personal  appearance  and  courage, 
to  efficiency  and  usefulness,  should  be  empha- 
sised rather  than  its  effects  upon  internal  or- 
gans. And  it  is  wrong  to  preach  much  about 
total  abstinence.  Some  good  biographical  ma- 
terial illustrating  both  the  temperate  and  the 
intemperate  life  should  be  made  use  of.  Over- 
emphasis upon  the  moral  wrong  of  drinking  is 
vicious,  and  the  sentimental,  morbid,  and  effemi- 
nate appeal  to  refined  ideals  of  perfection  is  the 
worst  of  all.  For  the  teacher  to  try  to  impress 
ideals  which  the  growing  boy  suspects  are  due 
to  lack  of  experience  with  the  world  is  to  lose  al- 
together the  power  of  conveying  moral  sugges- 
tion, and  this  failure  must  certainly  be  avoided 


246     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

by  a  teacher.  The  boy  must  learn  that  no  sound, 
strong  man  drinks  to  excess;  that  all  men  dis- 
respect the  hard  drinker,  and  regard  his  trouble 
as  due  to  mental  weakness  or  disease.  As 
likely  as  not  such  teaching  will  inspire  the  boy 
with  a  determination  never  to  taste  liquor. 

As  to  direct  moral  teaching  in  regard  to  the 
use  of  intoxicants  little  needs  to  be  added  to 
what  has  been  said  about  the  teaching  of  hy- 
giene. Moral  ideals  are  best  imparted  to  the 
i  child  and  youth  indirectly,  by  example,  by  direc- 
tion of  social  activities,  by  well-chosen  advice 
when  most  needed,  directed  to  the  specific  case 
in  hand.  Moral  principles,  and  adult  ideals  of 
conduct  do  not  influence  conduct  in  proportion 
to  the  effort  spent  in  inculcating  them.  The 
problem  of  intemperance  has  been  far  too  much 
regarded  as  individually  moral,  to  the  neglect 
of  its  other  phases ;  and  it  has  been  approached 
on  the  practical  side  far  too  much  by  the 
methods  of  morality  and  religion,  and  too  little 
by  the  method  of  indirect  control  through  edu- 
cation. The  moral  purpose  may  well  be  the 
inspiration  of  teacher  and  social  worker,  but  he 
should  keep  it  in  the  background,  and  not  make 
of  it  his  sole  method.  We  do  not  need  so  much 
preaching  and  teaching  to  the  child,  as  normal 
education  of  those  parts  of  his  nature  which 
precede  morality,  and  are  the  foundations  upon 
which  moral  behaviour  are  laid.  To  produce  a 


EDUCATIONAL  MEASURES        247 

temperate  life,  therefore,  we  must  direct  our 
efforts  to  the  co-ordination  and  direction  of  all 
the  interests,  and  not  centre  attention  upon  a 
single  sentiment,  nor  even  upon  the  moral  life 
as  a  whole. 

Intemperance  is  but  a  type  and  single  ex- 
pression of  a  fault  of  mental  and  physical  de- 
velopment. Whatever  retards  or  perverts  the 
development  of  an  individual,  and  prevents  the 
harmonious  balance  of  his  functions  favors 
wrong  habits  of  all  kinds ;  and  whatever  makes 
for  normal  and  full  development  makes  for 
temperance.  Given  a  sound  heredity,  and  nor- 
mal opportunity  for  the  development  of  the 
instincts  and  interests,  with  proper  direction  of 
the  social  activities  during  the  formative  years, 
and  the  individual  may  be  allowed  to  take 
care  of  his  own  morals  in  after  life.  Whether 
he  drinks  moderately  or  not  at  all  will  be  of 
comparatively  little  consequence,  and  will  be 
determined  largely,  and  perhaps  rightly,  by  the 
ideals  of  the  society  in  which  he  lives.  At  least 
the  question  of  total  abstinence  is  not  now  the 
most  important  consideration. 

The  indirect  education  for  the  temperate  life 
is  the  most  important,  and  the  most  difficult ;  it 
is  as  yet,  we  may  say,  the  ideal  rather  than  the 
practice  of  the  public  school.  Industrial  teach- 
ing is  the  first  to  consider.  In  the  past,  and 
to  a  great  extent  now,  the  public  school  has 


248     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

failed  to  connect  with  the  working  life  of  the 
man.  It  has  given  him  information,  but  no 
lasting  interests.  When  he  enters  upon  his 
trade  he  does  so  with  no  deep  roots  of  educated 
interest.  In  the  industrial  idea  is  the  means  of 
overcoming  this  evil.  Training,  in  school,  in 
the  foundations  of  industry  serves  to  connect 
occupation  with  play,  and  to  bring  to  it  interests 
which  are  otherwise  not  co-ordinated  with  prac- 
tical activities.  Industrial  training  affords  op- 
portunity, too,  for  normal  socialising  of  indi- 
viduals, as  the  older  methods  of  the  school  have 
not.  The  child  sees  his  activities  as  part  of  a 
whole,  becomes  an  individual  by  becoming  a 
link  in  a  chain,  and  so  grows  to  understand  the 
purposes  and  ideals  of  society.  He  comes  to  his 
life  work  not  only  with  actual  preparation,  but 
with  interests  co-ordinated  in  such  a  way  that 
the  work  may  draw  upon  deep  enthusiasms 
which  would  otherwise  go  to  waste. 

In  another  respect  the  education  of  the  pres- 
ent stands  at  the  verge  of  a  new  ideal.  In  the 
past  the  recreational  or  play  life  of  the  child 
has  been  entirely  undirected  by  the  school,  and 
all  its  force  has  been  lost.  Now  not  only  is  the 
play  spirit  of  the  child  being  brought  into  the 
work  of  teaching,  but  the  play  life  is  being  ex- 
tended and  directed  at  many  points.  It  is  seen 
that  if  the  child  grows  ~by  play,  it  is  possible  to 
continue  his  growth  after  he  has  left  school,  by 


EDUCATIONAL  MEASURES       249 

the  momentum  of  his  play  interests.  The 
school  in  the  past  has  rarely  succeeded  in  im- 
parting to  the  child  any  interest  which  he  main- 
tains after  he  leaves  school.  Unless  there  is 
immediate  use  for  it  in  occupation,  the  boy  sel- 
dom continues  his  school  work,  but  lays  it  en- 
tirely aside,  and  turns  to  new  interests.  The 
present  ideal  is  to  make  play  not  only  a  means 
of  motor  training,  of  establishing  interests  in 
active  sports,  which  will  help  to  keep  the  en- 
thusiasms normal  while  progressive,  but  to 
make  it  the  basis  of  permanent  intellectual  and 
social  interests.  By  taking  away  much  of  the 
dull  routine  of  school  work,  and  making  school 
life  more  active,  more  social,  and  more  pleas- 
ant, and  connecting  its  interests  in  many  ways 
with  recreational  interests  outside  the  school, 
a  means  is  provided  for  extending  the  nor- 
mal interests  of  the  individual  to  maturity, 
whether  he  remains  in  school  or  leaves  and 
goes  to  work.  This  must  be  the  greatest 
function  of  the  school,  to  develop  interests 
which  will  persist  into  adult  life,  and  carry 
growth  to  completion.  In  this  work  the  school 
must  be  aided  by  other  institutions  which  will 
take  the  child  when  he  leaves  the  school,  and  will 
connect  with  the  interests  he  has  formed  there. 
All  such  movements  as  those  described  in  the 
last  chapter  are  efficient  aids  of  the  public 
school,  in  directing  the  recreational  interests 


250     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

of  those  who,  though  having  completed  school, 
are  still  in  their  most  active  growing  periods, 
and  still  in  the  greatest  need  of  public  control. 
The  strengthening  of  individuality,  the  acquire- 
ment of  broader  life  experience,  is  what  must  be 
attained,  and  it  can  be  attained  only  in  a  whole- 
some social  environment.  The  later  stages  of 
growth,  like  the  earlier,  are  certain  to  take  on 
the  character  of  the  social  environment  in  which 
they  are  passed,  and  unless  the  social  environ- 
ment can  be  controlled,  no  amount  of  prepara- 
tion of  the  individual  by  his  school  life  can  be 
entirely  successful.  Therefore,  we  repeat,  so 
to  educate  the  child  that  he  will  continue  to 
grow  in  all  his  functions  after. he  leaves  school 
and  enters  upon  occupation  is  the  most  impor- 
tant work  of  the  school ;  and  to  expand  our  sys- 
tem of  education  so  that  it  shall  provide  for  the 
later  stages  of  growth  is  the  greatest  public 
need  of  the  day.  It  is  certain  that  to  provide 
the  right  recreational  life  for  the  people  is  quite 
as  necessary  a  part  of  public  education  as  any- 
thing that  is  done  in  the  school. 
\t  In  another  respect  the  modern  school  is  mak- 
/>ving  progress  toward  the  elimination  of  the  ex- 
cessive drinker  and  other  defectives  from  so- 
ciety. There  is  at  least  a  good  beginning  of  a 
science  of  individuals,  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant practical  services  of  which  is  the  detection, 


EDUCATIONAL  MEASUEES        251 

in  the  early  stages,  of  cases  of  defective  moral, 
mental,  and  physical  organisation.  Its  prob- 
lem takes  into  account  also  the  factors  of  en- 
vironment, and  effort  is  being  made  to  diagnose 
the  whole  situation  of  unpromising  individuals, 
with  a  view  to  controlling  their  future. 

Much  more  could  and  should  be  done  in  the 
public  schools  in  the  study  of  individuals  in 
order  to  detect  in  the  making  the  drunkard  and 
other  criminal,  vicious,  or  defective  types  and 
conditions.  Those  who  are  suspected  of  weak- 
ness or  abnormality,  and  those  whose  conditions 
of  life  are  bad,  should  be  individually  studied, 
and  enough  of  their  history  and  progress  re- 
corded to  form  conclusions  about  the  direction 
of  their  tendencies  and  the  best  means  of  con- 
trolling them.  We  have  at  present  almost  no 
reliable  knowledge  about  the  early  stages  of 
most  of  the  abnormalities,  and  we  must  look  in 
great  measure  to  the  school  for  it.  Each  fresh 
discovery  of  a  great  criminal,  each  new  instance 
of  an  apparently  well-conditioned  man  going 
to  ruin  because  of  alcoholism,  excites  our  won- 
der. Our  next  door  neighbour  or  old  school 
companion  commits  a  crime,  or  becomes  insane, 
or  a  drunkard,  and  then  we  recall  how  eccentric 
he  was  as  a  child,  or  how  unfortunate  his  sur- 
roundings. But  he  went  through  the  schools, 
and  no  one  detected  abnormal  tendencies.  He 


252     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

was  treated  like  all  the  rest,  and  took  his  chance 
in  the  mass.  The  school  should  at  least  mark 
for  study  the  unusual  case,  and  collect  informa- 
tion which  can  be  used  later. 

A 


CHAPTER  XIV 

CARE,    CURE,    AND    CONTROL   OF   THE   DRUNKARD 

FROM  the  facts  and  laws  already  presented  the 
main  principles  of  the  care,  control,  and  cure  of 
the  abnormal  case  can  readily  be  inferred.  Be- 
tween drunkenness  and  moderate  drinking  there 
is  no  fixed  line,  and  what  has  been  said  about 
the  control  of  social  drinking  applies,  when  es- 
pecially adapted,  to  the  drunkard. 

Two  kinds  of  excessive  users  of  alcohol  must 
be  distinguished  from  one  another.  The  ab- 
normal dipsomaniac  or  periodical  drinker  is  a 
diseased  person,  and  he  requires  the  attention 
of  the  specialist  in  nervous  disorders.  Such 
cases  are  to  be  treated  by  all  the  hygienic  and 
remedial  measures  now  known  to  the  practice  of 
neurology.  They  require  both  physical  and 
mental  hygiene,  education  in  mental  control, 
suggestive  and  other  psychotherapeutic  treat- 
ment. There  is  no  specific  cure  for  drunken- 
ness, and  from  its  very  nature  there  cannot  be. 
Moral  and  religious  motives  certainly  are  a 
powerful  aid  to  the  medical  methods,  and  cure 
of  drunkenness  made  by  conversion  or  other  re- 
ligious or  moral  methods  is  sound  and  in  accord- 

253 


254     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

ance  with  the  principles  of  psychology.  Pro- 
found changes  in  the  moral  life,  such  as  are  pro- 
duced by  conversion,  are  alterative  of  all  the 
mental  and  social  habits,  and  the  periodicity  of 
a  nervous  disorder  is  often  broken  up  by  these 
means.  Whatever  convinces  a  man  that  he 
will  drink  no  more  is  certain  to  facilitate  the 
cure,  whereas  the  belief  that  the  craving  for 
alcohol  is  rooted  in  the  structure  of  the  body 
helps  to  keep  up  the  suggestions  which  lead  to  a 
breakdown  of  the  will.  Many  cases  in  which 
there  are  pronounced  abnormalities  of  body  or 
mind,  or  signs  of  nervous  disorder  of  any  kind, 
although  the  drinking  may  not  be  periodic,  and 
perhaps  not  greatly  excessive,  also  require 
medical  advice  and  treatment.  Confinement  in 
penal  institutions  for  all  such  inebriates  is 
worse  than  useless,  for  there  conditions  are 
usually  both  mentally  and  physically  unhy- 
gienic. 

The  common  drunkard,  the  man  who  drinks, 
as  a  rule,  whenever  he  has  opportunity,  is  a 
somewhat  different  problem.  His  drinking  is 
almost  entirely  social,  and  whether  he  shall 
drink  or  stay  sober  is  determined  by  his  en- 
vironment. He  has  little  if  any  craving  for 
alcohol  as  such,  but  his  difficulty  lies  largely  in 
his  undeveloped  nature,  his  narrow  individ- 
uality, and  entire  lack  of  inner  sources  of 
growth  and  interest.  He  has  little  moral  re- 


CAKE  OF  THE  DEUNKAED        255 

sistance,  even  if  he  has  ideals,  and  it  is  useless 
to  ask  him  to  stay  sober,  when  he  is  in  the  midst 
of  drinking  company. 

From  this  class  most  of  the  chronic  drunkards 
who  fill  our  jails  and  almshouses  are  recruited. 
As  a  rule  they  are  not  vicious,  and  they  differ 
from  thousands  of  respectable,  but  mild  and 
purposeless,  members  of  society  mainly  in  the 
social  environment  and  the  habits  of  life,  into 
contact  with  which  they  have  been  thrown  by 
birth  or  circumstances.  Detention  does  not 
cure  these  people,  and  they  have  no  pronounced 
disease  of  the  nervous  system  yet  recognised 
which  needs  treatment.  They  are  not  in  the 
least  changed  for  the  better  by  a  term  of  con- 
finement. It  is  the  social  surrounding  and  \ 
social  habit  that  is  at  fault,  and  in  the  entirely 
unsocial  life  of  the  jail  they  learn  nothing  and 
acquire  no  new  social  habits.  Instead  of  ac- 
quiring control  thus,  the  will  deteriorates. 
They  yield  to  whatever  vices  can  be  indulged  in 
within  the  walls  of  prison,  and  leave  worse,  or 
no  better,  than  when  they  came.  Some  assert 
that  the  regularity  and  routine  of  prison  life 
teach  regularity  of  habits,  but  such  training  is 
like  some  of  the  class  work  in  school,  it  fails 
to  connect  with  the  natural  life,  and  leaves  no 
impression.  No  method  of  treatment  that  does  • 
not  have  in  view  to  change  radically  the  social  / 
habits  of  a  man,  can  go  far  towards  effecting 


256     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

a  cure  for  drunkenness.  Prison  life  we  say  can 
make  no  radical  change  in  a  man's  habits.  He 
emerges  from  it,  as  from  a  long  slumber,  to  take 
up  life  just  where  he  left  it.  Our  houses  of 
correction  do  not  usually  deserve  the  title,  for 
they  do  not  correct.  They  do  not  even  punish 
effectively,  for  life  in  them  is  so  empty  of  con- 
tent, whether  of  pleasure  or  pain,  that  while  it 
seems  long  in  passing,  it  appears  short  in  ret- 
rospect, and  lacks  the  sharp,  clear  emotional 
qualities  a  punishment  must  have,  if  it  is  to  be 
deterrent  of  misdemeanours.  That  detention  is 
not  deterrent  of  drunkenness,  the  history  of 
any  hundred  men  who  have  been  committed 
abundantly  shows.  Most  return  again  and 
again,  some  voluntarily;  and  the  county  jail  is 
to  a  greater  extent  than  many  know  the  winter 
resort  of  the  tramp  element  who  find  outdoor 
life  in  the  cold  season  unpleasant. 

How  incompetent  the  drunkard  is  to  construct 
from  within  his  cell  an  escape  from  his  vices, 
is-  well  illustrated  by  one  of  my  own  cases.  A 
somewhat  prepossessing  young  man  who  had 
already  been  committed  several  times  for 
drunkenness,  was  asked  what  he  thought  his 
prospects  for  the  future  were,  whether  he 
would  be  likely  to  drink  again.  He  said  that 
he  should  never  drink  another  drop.  He  had 
no  taste  for  liquor,  anyway,  and  it  was  only 
when  he  was  with  drinking  companions  that  he 


CAKE  OF  THE  DRUNKARD        257 

drank  at  all.  When  asked  about  his  acquaint- 
ances he  said  they  were  all  drinking  men,  some 
moderate,  some  heavy  drinkers.  In  fact  he 
knew  no  other  social  life  than  that  of  the  saloon. 
He  was  then  asked  whether  he  thought  he  would 
be  able  to  go  back  among  his  associates  and 
stay  sober,  or  perhaps  drink  moderately.  That 
he  said  at  once  would  be  impossible. 

"What  will  you  do  then?"  I  asked  him. 
"How  will  you  spend  your  time  when  you  are 
not  at  work?"  He  thought  a  minute,  and  re- 
plied, 

"Well,  I  am  not  going  to  go  with  the  fellows 
any  more." 

* l  Where  will  you  go  ?  " 

"I  will  go  off  to  walk  by  myself  in  the  even- 
ing." 

One  may  imagine  how  long  such  a  resolution 
would  be  effective,  and  yet  such  a  plan  is  a  fair 
example  of  the  drunkard's  power  of  self-direc- 
tion. Apparently  this  young  man  had  given  no 
thought  till  he  was  asked,  about  the  ways  and 
means  of  reform.  He  had  vaguely  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  he  would  never  drink  again,  but 
that  such  a  radical  change  in  his  life  would  re- 
quire more  than  a  simple  decision  seems  not  to 
have  occurred  to  him,  although  it  is  likely  that 
he  had  made  the  same  resolution  many  times 
before,  and  failed  to  keep  it.  Of  course  it  is 
futile  to  expect  the  drunkard  to  reform  himself. 


258     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

It  is  the  work  of  others  to  furnish  the  resources 
of  control  for  the  drunkard,  and  teach  him  how 
to  develop  inner  strength. 

When  it  is  recognised  that  the  work  of  re-  } 
form  of  the  drunkard  must  be  radically  educa- 
tional (re-educational,  for  the  man  must  be  edu- 
cated over  again  as  from  childhood),  a  clue  to 
the  method  of  treatment  will  be  obtained. 
Generally  speaking  it  is  a  long  process,  to  "  re- 
form "  a  drunkard,  with  need  of  skilful  treat- 
ment at  every  point.  He  needs  usually  physical 
upbuilding.  He  needs  in  many  cases  to  learn  a 
trade,  some  new  occupation  in  which  the  con- 
ditions for  self-control  will  be  better  than  in 
his  old  life.  He  needs  moral  ideals,  and  rec- 
reational interests.  All  these  he  usually  lacks 
both  from  want  of  initiative  to  get  them  for 
himself,  and  from  lack  of  sufficient  suggestion 
from  environment. 

When  a  man  is  legally  detained,  to  a  certain 
extent  his  future  is  under  control.  Now  is  the 
time  to  bring  to  bear  upon  him  all  possible 
educative  influences,  so  as  to  leave  him  at  the 
end  of  his  term  faced  toward  a  normal  social 
life.  The  industrial  farm  seems  the  best  of  all 
reformative  situations  for  the  drunkard.*  He 
needs  to  get  back  to  fundamentals ;  to  learn  to 

*  The  Farmfield  Reformatory  for  Inebriate  Women  at  Horley, 
England,  with  its  cottage  system  and  home  and  garden  work 
seems  to  offer  almost  ideal  conditions  for  the  class  it  treats. 


CAEE  OF  THE  DRUNKARD        259 

dig  out  his  living,  to  be  situated  where  work 
may  be  to  some  extent  co-operative  and  social, 
the  very  opposite  of  that  which  is  found  in  the 
jail  where  every  man  is  doing  the  same  thing 
individually.  Most  of  these  offenders  are  easy 
to  control,  from  the  very  fact  that  they  lack 
self-direction.  Terms  should  be  indeterminate, 
and  there  should  be  authority  to  direct  the  oc- 
cupational life  and  to  release  on  trial.  We  can 
teach  the  defective  and  undeveloped  man  to  live 
a  normal  life,  only  by  placing  him  in  the  midst 
of  one,  and  this  should  be  the  basic  principle  of 
the  treatment  of  the  form  of  inebriety  of  which 
we  are  speaking.  Some  cases,  probably  most, 
need  permanent  direction  and  control. 

Something  further  should  perhaps  be  added 
about  the  religious  cures  of  drunkenness.  Facts 
gathered  at  the  McAuley  Mission  and  at  other 
missions  in  New  York  City  leave  no  doubt  in 
the  mind  of  the  writer  that  conversion,  under 
the  conditions  in  which  the  missions  are  able  to 
accomplish  it,  is  a  powerful  means  of  control- 
ling drunkenness.  Many  men  come  to  these 
missions  drunk,  and  pass  through  some  kind  of 
an  experience  which  frees  them  from  their 
habits  of  drink.  Some  of  these  cases,  it  must 
be  said,  however,  are  very  morbid,  and  their 
cures  seem  rather  a  change  in  the  form  of  their 
disease  than  a  real  cure.  They  become  in- 
temperately  religious  and  moral,  and  show 


260     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

signs  of  their  weakness  of  mind  and  character 
in  everything  they  do.  Many  too  are  at  the 
time  of  life  when  sudden  cessation  of  the  habit 
of  intoxication  is  likely  to  occur,  or  when  the 
power  of  the  habit  is  declining. 

Whatever  supernatural  factor  may  be  present 
in  conversion,  and  this  need  not  be  discussed  at 
this  point,  the  cure  is  made  permanent  by 
changing  the  social  habits  of  the  man.  He 
casts  off  his  associations  with  men  who  drink, 
and  forms  a  new  social  life  for  himself  among 
those  who  do  not  drink.  When  this  new  life  has 
taken  sufficient  hold  of  his  interests,  and  his  new 
behaviour  has  strong  enough  social  reinforce- 
ment, he  may  then  be  safe  in  the  midst  of  much 
temptation,  and  is  likely  not  to  revert  to  his  old 
ways.  This  is  the  desired  end  of  all  meth- 
ods of  treating  inebriety.  Change  the  social 
habitat  and  the  habit  is  largely  controlled.  A 
serious  limitation  of  much  of  the  excellent  work 
of  the  churches  is  that  they  have  no  organised 
means  of  creating  a  new  social  habitat  for  their 
convert.  They  can  command  a  little  of  his  time 
on  Sunday,  an  hour  in  the  mid-week  perhaps, 
and  an  occasional  evening,  but  the  church  does 
not  reach  out  as  it  should  into  the  actual  life  of 
the  man.  Just  to  the  extent  that  the  church  can 
affect  the  social  and  recreational  life  will  its 
power  to  control  such  evils  as  drunkenness  be 
increased. 


CHAPTER  XV 

SUMMABY   OF   PRACTICAL   PRINCIPLES 

THE  practical  principles  of  the  control  of  in- 
temperance which  have  been  suggested  can  now 
be  gathered  up  briefly  in  a  few  conclusions.  It 
is  always  true  of  every  great  social  problem, 
from  the  very  complexity  of  the  factors  which 
produce  the  condition,  that  no  single  principle 
can  be  laid  down  which  shall  serve  as  a  guide 
to  the  practical  solution  of  it.  The  problem  of 
intemperance  involves  broad  questions  of  hu- 
man evolution;  intemperance  is  a  product  of 
impulses  which  lie  at  the  very  bottom  of  human 
progress.  The  practical  questions  of  control  I 
must  ultimately  be  studied  from  many  scientific  "* 
points  of  view — from  the  medical,  psychological, 
social,  and  ethical — and  then  the  conclusions 
must  be  adapted  to  concrete  situations  in  which 
problems  of  expediency  and  local  conditions 
must  also  be  taken  into  consideration.  There 
cdn  be  no  hard  and  fast  rule  of  procedure  de- 
duced from  science,  for  the  solution  of  a  social 
problem.  Often  too  much  is  expected  of  science. 
All  it  can  do  is  to  bring  its  report  of  facts  and 
interpretations  of  them,  and  suggest  what, 

261 


262     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

various  conditions  being  assumed  or  ignored, 
should  be  done  to  produce  a  given  result,  with 
perhaps  a  higher  degree  of  probability.  It  may 
suggest  that  the  method  must  be  one  of  trial 
and  error,  or  it  may  point  out  with  confidence 
some  one  line  of  action  better  than  all  the  rest. 
There  is  always  much  more  to  be  learned  and 
the  scientific  point  of  view  is  never  complete. 
In  the  meantime,  action  must  take  place,  and 
the  scientific  conclusions  will  have  greater  or 
less  weight  according  to  the  complexity  of  the 
problem.  We  must  understand  that  the  control 
of  intemperance  must  still  be  in  a  large  measure 
experimental.  We  must  try  various  methods, 
and  any  broadly  conce*  ved  plan  of  action,  made 
reasonably  probable  ot  success  after  all  the  evi- 
dence that  can  be  brought  to  bear  upon  it  has 
been  sifted,  is  worthy  of  trial.  Practical  com- 
mon sense,  scientific  insight,  and  an  open- 
minded  experimental  attitude  toward  the  prob- 
em  will  together  produce  the  best  results. 

It  is  possible  that  the  scientific  evidence 
might  warrant  the  conclusion  that  the  best 
method  of  curing  intemperance  is  to  abolish  the 
manufacture  and  sale  of  alcohol.  Considering 
the  question  purely  from  the  physiological  side, 
this  might  fairly  be  deduced  from  the  facts. 
Psychological  evidence,  as  has  been  explained, 
casts  doubt  upon  the  wisdom  of  this,  and  a 
study  of  the  intoxication  motive  makes  it  rea- 


SUMMARY  OF  PRINCIPLES       263 

sonably  certain  that  this  result  cannot  be  at- 
tained. The  intoxication  impulse  often  con- 
trols the  very  legislation  which  would  be  neces- 
sary to  abolish  alcohol,  and  would  even  9ver- 
ride  the  law.  Yet  the  misery  and  poverty 
which  is  certainly  inflicted  upon  many  innocent 
victims  by  alcohol,  would  seem  on  superficial 
view  to  warrant  the  concentration  of  effort  up- 
on the  legislative  problem.  But  this  remains 
still  experimental.  We  do  not  know  what  legis- 
lation can  be  secured,  or  precisely  what  its 
effect  will  be  until  it  is  tried.  Trial  of  local 
and  state  prohibition  of  alcohol  has  certainly 
not  been  remarkably  successful.  Drinking  is  a  r 
symptom  of  deep  forces  and  to  treat  merely  the 
symptom,  as  we  do  by  legislation,  does  not  seem 
enough.  The  study  of  the  saloon  shows  that  it  ^ 
exists  because  to  a  certain  extent  it  fulfils  a 
normal  need  of  man.  This  need  must  be  recog- 
nised and  met  in  the  treatment  of  intemperance. 
The  way  in  which  that  may  most  naturally  be 
done  has  been  pointed  out.  The  problem  is  that 
of  working  out  in  a  practical  way  a  social  hy- 
giene,—  physical,  mental,  and  moral, — a  method 
of  controlling  the  recreational  life  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  providing  for  the  expression  of  all 
normal  motives.  This  hygiene  must  extend 
into  the  occupational  life,  and  rightly  conceived, 
the  problem  is  one  of  conscious  evolution.  The 
work  is  positive,  and  not  merely  negative.  We 


264     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPERANCE 

must  discover  what  the  factors  of  evolution  are, 
what  the  factors  of  degeneration  are,  and  put 
them  more  completely  under  control.  This  is 
not  a  mere  generalisation  and  an  abstract 
theory,  but  is  rather  a  justification  of  what  is 
already  the  trend  of  the  best  public  effort.  All 
institutions,  the  church,  the  school,  the  recrea- 
tional institute,  must  be  made  to  extend  out- 
ward their  influences,  each  from  its  own  centre, 
into  the  social  life  of  the  people  in  a  definite, 
planned  manner,  and  control  the  motives  which 
lead  to  the  intemperate  and  inefficient  life. 
This  is  striking  at  the  root  and  not  at  the  flower 
of  the  evil.  Whether  or  not  alcohol  shall  still 
play  a  part  in  this  scheme  may  be  left  an  open 
question.  In  a  certain  sense  it  is  a  minor  mat- 
ter. Life  may  be  temperate  with  or  without 
alcohol — and  it  may  be  intemperate  also  under 
either  of  these  conditions.  This  is  not  an  ar- 
gument against  prohibition.  But  it  is  emphat- 
ically an  argument  against  the  belief  that  when 
legislation  is  secured  that  prohibits  the  sale  of 
alcohol,  the  effort  of  social  reform  may  cease. 
It  is  now  needed  more  than  before.  The  situa- 
tion must  still  be  regarded  as  experimental; 
there  is  no  permanent,  accomplished  achieve- 
ment. Too  often  the  cause  of  temperance  is  at 
a  standstill  the  day  after  the  no-license  vote  has 
been  secured.  Positive  effort  in  communities 
in  which  the  license  system  prevails  is  now  more 


SUMMAEY  OF  PRINCIPLES        265 

important  than  to  secure  more  local  legislation. 
It  is  in  the  large  city,  where  local  legislation 
cannot  be  secured,  that  the  best  work  -must  be 
done.  It  seems  as  though  all  must  admit  that 
eventually  temperance  in  the  presence  of  alco- 
hol is  better  than  temperance  where  alcohol  can- 
not be  obtained.  It  is  inner  control  through 
organised  interests  that  is  the  ideal  of  an  edu- 
cation of  the  individual,  and  the  same  ideal  must 
be  maintained  in  the  education  of  society.  It 
is  temperance  through  inner  control  that  we 
must  work  toward  if  we  wish  to  live  in  moral 
freedom,  and  not  in  a  stage  of  development  in 
which  a  large  part  of  the  energy  of  one  group 
must  be  expended  in  controlling  the  actions  of 
another,  thus  using  two  sources  of  energy  with 
a  wholly  unproductive,  result.  Control  must 
often  be  a  temporary  expedient,  but  it  is  a  make- 
shift, not  an  ideal  and  final  procedure.  The 
normal  development  of  society,  as  of  the  in- 
dividual, is  from  outer  to  inner  control,  and  any 
mode  of  treating .  a  social  problem  which  does 
not  produce  progress  toward  this  end^is  short- 
sighted if  not  'totally  mistaken. 

These  are  the  reasons  why  the  problem  of 
intemperance  is  educational  rather  than  legis- 
lative. The  broadest  and  deepest  work  must  be 
done  in  the  school,  in  prevention,  in  forming 
habits  which  will  control  in  adult  years  all  those 
impulses  and  desires  which  are  the  source  of  all 


266     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

the  social  evils.  The  best  indications  of  prog- 
ress toward  temperance,  therefore,  are  found 
not  in  the  results  of  the  fall  elections,  but  in 
the  appropriations  of  local  governments  for  the 
schools,  in  the  introduction  of  industrial  meth- 
ods in  education,  and  the  provision  for  play- 
grounds and  other  organised  modes  of  control- 
ling the  recreational  life  of  the  people. 

The  same  principles  must  be  applied  to  the 
treatment  of  the  excessive  user  of  alcohol.  The 
root  of  his  trouble  is  in  an  abnormal  social  life, 
and  an  unbalanced  or  undeveloped  complex  of 
interests.  Cure  for  the  most  part  must  be  the 
outcome  of  organisation  of  his  interests,  and 
the  reconstruction  of  his  social  habits.  The 
drunkard  must  be  re-educated,  in  other  words. 
His  habits  must  be  broken  down,  and  reas- 
sembled on  a  higher  plane,  and  only  when  this  is 
done  can  he  be  said  to  be  cured.  We  shall  some- 
time look  back  upon  the  treatment  of  the  drunk- 
ard and  other  delinquents,  which  prevails  at  the 
present  time,  as  a  relic  of  barbarism  and  prim- 
itive ignorance  in  the  midst  of  civilisation. 
What  for  example  could  be  more  completely 
wrong  than  to  try  to  cure  the  drunkard  by 
punishment  and  isolation^  when  his  greatest 
need  is  a  normal  social  life?  It  is  not  to  be  won- 
dered at  that  our  officials  who  administer  justice 
almost  invariably  believe  the  drunkard  incur- 
able. 


EEFEEENCES 

1.  Jellyfish,  Starfish,  and  Sea  Urchins.     P.  227. 

2.  W.  H.  Kesteven.     A  Note  on  the  So-called  Stimulating 
Effect  of  Alcohol  on  Protoplasm.     Quart.  Jour,  of  ineb.     Vol. 
30,  3. 

3.  The  Descent  of  Man.    P.  7. 

4.  Morgan,  Habit  and  Instinct. 

5.  Morgan.     Op.  cit. 

6.  Music  and  Dancing  in  Nature. 

7.  Play  of  Animals. 

8.  Early  Man  in  Britain  and  His  Place  in  the  Tertiary 
Period.     P.  293. 

9.  Mescal    Buttons.    Medical    Record,    1896.    Vol.    I,    pp. 
258-266. 

10.  Social  History  of  the  Races  of  Mankind.    Vol.  IV,  p. 
249. 

11.  Ethics.     Vol.  I,  p.  441. 

12.  Featherman.     Op.  cit,  Vol.  II,  p.  499. 

13.  The  Folk-Lore  of  Plants.     P.  103. 

14.  Featherman.     Op.  cit.,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  128. 

15.  Featherman,     Op.  cit.,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  161. 

16.  Featherman.     Op.  cit.,  Vol.  IV,  p.  459. 

17.  Featherman.     Op.  cit.,  Vol.  IV,  p.  459. 

18.  Primitive  Industry.     P.  315. 

19.  Featherman.     Op.  cit.,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  170. 

20.  Featherman.     Op.  cit.,  Vol.  II,  p.  115. 

21.  Feathennan.     Op.  cit.,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  164. 

22.  Featherman.     Op.  cit.,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  550. 

23.  Feathennan.     Op.  cit.,  Vol.  II,  p.  350. 

24.  Bancroft.     Native  Races.     Vol.  I,  p.  550. 

25.  Bancroft.     Op.  cit.,  Vol.  I,  p.  551. 

26.  Bancroft.    Op.  cit.,  Vol.  I,  p.  706. 

267 


268     PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INTEMPEEANCE 

27.  Featherman.    Op.  cit,  Vol.  IV,  p.  115. 

28.  Andaman  Islanders.     P.  44. 

29.  Feathennan.     Op.  cit.,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  341. 

30.  Customs  Among  the  Natives  of  Bast  Africa,  Journal  of 
the  Anthropological  Institute,  1891,  p.  367. 

31.  HalL     Adolescence. 

32.  Havelock  Ellis.    Affirmations. 

33.  Eleusinian  and  Bacchic  Mysteries. 

34.  Greek  Lyric  Poetry.     P.  102. 

35.  Critical  History  of  the  Language  and  Literature  of  An- 
cient Greece.    Vol.  Ill,  p.  88. 

36.  Ellis.     Affirmations. 

37.  The  Civilisation  of  the  Period  of  the  Renaissance.    Vol. 
I,  p.  181. 

38.  Civilisation  During  the  Middle  Ages.    P.  365. 

39.  Op.  cit.,  Vol.  II,  pp.  246-7. 

40.  Renaissance  in  Italy.    Vol.  I,  p.  411. 

41.  Leuba.    National  Destruction  and  Construction  in  France 
as  seen  in  Modern  Literature  and  in  the  Neo-Christian  Move- 
ment.    American  Journal  of  Psychology,  July,  1893,  Vol.  V, 
No.  4,  p.  49g. 

42.  Geddes  and  Thomson.    The  Evolution  of  Sex.    Pp.  18, 
270. 

43.  Man  and  Woman.     P.  2. 

44.  Evolution  of  General  Ideas.     P.  76. 

45.  The  Quatrains  of  Omar  Khayyam.     Introduction. 

46.  Anstie.     Stimulants  and  Narcotics. 

47.  Stimulants   and   Narcotics.     One  may   consult   also   on 
these  points  standard  works  on  materia  medica  and  therapeu- 
tics, such  as  Wood,  Brunton,  etc.;    also>  standard  works  on 
poisons. 

48.  W.  S.  Hall.    Jour,  of  Ineb.     Vol.  XXXIII,  2-. 

49.  J.  G.  Null.    Jour,  of  Ineb.    Vol.  XXXII,  1. 

50.  For  the  evidence  for  classing  alcohol  among  the  foods 
see  Alcohol,  by  J.  Starke. 

51.  W.  8.  Hall.     Jour,  of  Ineb.     Vol.  XXX,  4. 

52.  The  Liquor  Problem.     Published  for  the  Committee  of 
Fifty. 

53.  For  a  good  review  of  the  most  important  experimental 


EEFEEENCES  269 

studies  of  the  effects  of  small  doses  of  alcohol  consult  M.  A. 
and  A.  J.  Rosonoff's  Evidence  Against  Alcohol. 

54.  For  a  complete  report  of  these  experiments  see  American 
Journal  of  Psychology.     Vol.  XI. 

55.  Evidence  Against  Alcohol.     M.  A.  and  A.  J.  KosanofT. 

56.  Summarised  from  reports  of  sixty  cases  gathered  from 
the  literature  of  the  subject. 

57.  Psychology  of  the  Emotions.     P.  424. 
68.  Jour,  of  Ineb.     Vol.  XXXI,  2. 

59.  G.  R.  Wilson.     Clinical  Studies  in  Vice  and  Insanity. 

60.  Leuba.    A  Study  in  the  Psychology  of  Religious  Phe- 
nomena.   American  Journal  of  Psychology,  April,   1896,  Vol. 
VII,  No.  3,  pp.  309-383. 

61.  Alcohol  Inebriety,  1883. 

62.  From  Thomann's  Real  and  Imaginary  Effects  of  Intem- 
perance. 

63.  In  correspondence. 

64.  In  correspondence. 

65.  In  correspondence. 

66.  Degeneration. 

67.  Quart.  Jour,  of  Ineb. 

68.  Alcohol.     The  Sanction  for  Its  Use. 
69-71.  Quart.  Jour,  of  Ineb. 

72.  Popular  Science  Monthly,   1879,  Supplement.    N.  S.  I, 
p.  30. 

73.  Quart.  Jour,  of  Ineb. 

74.  Stimulants  and  Narcotics. 

75.  The  Present  Evolution  of  Man. 


INDEX 


Abandonment,  craving  for, 
37;  in  intoxication,  104. 

Abnormal  cases,  133- ;  rela- 
tion to  normal,  6,  9. 

Adams,  48. 

Adding,  122. 

Adolescence,  intoxication  mo- 
tives in,  56,  204;  love  of 
excitement  in,  41. 

Adrenal  system,  130. 

Alcohol,  and  ideals,  226;  as 
excretion,  86;  as  food,  87; 
as  socialising  influence, 
228;  effects  of  large  quan- 
tities, 88;  effect  upon  oxi- 
dation, 88 ;  experimental 
study  of  effects,  89-,  101-; 
future  of,  264. 

America^  intemperance  in,  54. 

American  Indians,  36. 

Analytic  methods,  83. 

Animals,  psychology  of,  12; 
excitement  in,  17;  intoxi- 
cation in,  11-,  201;  sexual 
excitement  in,  18. 

Anstie,  84. 

Arion,  46. 

Aristotle  and  Plato,  doctrine 
of  soul,  80. 

Associations,  experiments 
upon,  105-,  109-. 


Baboons,  intoxication  in,  15. 
Bacchic  and  Eleusinian  mys- 
teries, 45. 
Bancroft,  36. 
Beard,  175-. 
Black  drink,  32. 
Braintwaite,  160. 
Burckhardt,  48. 

Calkins,  239. 

Carnivals  in  Venice,  48. 

Chapman,  17. 

Child,  excitement  in,  40. 

China,  42. 

Church,  social  aspects  of,  226. 

Civilized  nations,  drinking  in, 

42,  206. 
Classification    of    drunkards, 

133,  210. 

Committee  of  Fifty,  56. 
Control  of  intemperance,  5. 
Conversion,  152,  259. 
Craving     for     alcohol,     135-, 

165-,  211. 
Crothers,  159,  161. 
Creeks,  30,  33. 

Dancing,  38. 
Danielewski,  169. 
Darien  Indians,  29. 
Darwin,  15. 


271 


272 


INDEX 


Dawkins,  25. 

Day,  169. 

Death  and  intoxication,  30. 

Delabarre,  100. 

Destine,  91. 

Developmental  periods  and 
intoxication,  47. 

Dionysus,  26,  205;  worship 
of,  44. 

Dipsomania,  150. 

Dogs,  intoxication  in,  14-. 

Drinking  habits,  age  when  ac- 
quired, 157-. 

Drugs,  experiments  with,  100. 

Drunkards,  care  of,  221;  con- 
finement of,  255 ;  control  of, 
253-;  social  life  of,  255-. 

Dyaks,  34. 

Dyer,  29. 

Education  for  temperance, 
220-. 

Educational  measures,  240-. 

Ellis,  58. 

Emotional  changes  in  intoxi- 
cation, 120-. 

Estimation  of  time,  122. 

Experiments  upon  sarsia,  13. 

Farnell,  46. 

Featherman,  27,  30,  36. 
First  drink,  157. 
Forel,  172. 

French-Sheldon,  Mrs.  39. 
Fuegians,  35. 

Genetic  methods,  22. 
Glooscap,  32. 


Gonds,  35. 
Greece,  43. 
Greek,  art,  46;  dithyrambic 

poetry,   76. 
Groos,  18. 
Guatemalans,  34. 

Habits  and  motives,  200;  ex- 
planation of,  19-. 

Hadley,  160. 

Hens,  intoxication  in,  14. 

Higher  classes,  intemperance 
in,  238. 

Hindus,  26. 

Hodge,  15. 

Hudson,  18. 

Hunt,  88. 

Huysmans,  54. 

Indeterminate  sentence,  259. 

Individual,  and  race,  207; 
study  of,  250. 

Indra,  25. 

Industrial,  education,  247-; 
farm,  258. 

Inheritance,  184- ;  of  habits, 
173. 

Intemperance,  and  evolution, 
195;  and  legislation,  236; 
and  warlike  spirit,  50. 

Intoxicants,  and  narcotics, 
82;  universality  of,  35; 
origin  of,  23. 

Intoxication,  abandonment  in, 
131;  excitement  in,  45;  and 
literature,  79;  and  lan- 
guage, 72;  and  growth, 
203- ;  and  religion,  24; 


INDEX 


273 


emotional  changes  in,  120- ; 
experimental  case  of,  108; 
in  higher  classes,  237;  in 
savage  and  child,  40;  mo- 
tives and  development,  61-; 
and  instinct,  66;  among 
civilized  peoples,  50;  in 
Greek  poetry,  76;  in  litera- 
ture, 71;  physiology  of, 
120,  126- ;  varied  uses  of, 
in  primitive  society,  29. 
Intoxication  impulse,  meth- 
ods of  studying,  7;  prob- 
lem of,  3,  5,  6;  theories  of, 
164-. 


Kava  ceremony,  33. 
Keeley  Cure,  156. 
Keres,  34. 
Kesteven,  13. 
Khayyam,  77-. 
Kiawa   Indians,  mescal  cere- 
mony of,  26. 
Krapelin,  89,  96. 
Kuertz,  91. 


Language    and    intoxication, 

72. 

Lapps,  30. 
Legislation  and  intemperance, 

236, 

Lett,  166. 

Liquor  business,  233-. 
Literature    and    intoxication, 

79. 
Lombard,  95. 


Man,  E.  H.,  35. 

Marriage  and  intoxication,  30. 

Mayer,  91. 

Mental  cures,  152-. 

Mental  processes,  effects  of  al- 
cohol upon,  96. 

Mensius,  42. 

Mescal  ceremony,  26-. 

Monin,  174. 

Moral,  attitudes,  4;  teaching, 
243- 

Mosquitos,  34. 

Mosso,  52. 

Movement,  experiments  upon, 
122. 

Moxon,  174. 

Mure,  46. 

Muscular  power,  effects  of  al- 
cohol upon,  80-;  experi- 
ments upon,  102. 

Myth  and  wine,  72. 

Napoleonic  wars,  excitement 
after,  53. 

Narcotic  motive,  51,  55,  161, 
206,  212. 

Narcotics  in  eastern  coun- 
tries, 43. 

Neolithic  man,  25. 

Nervous  system,  effects  of 
drugs  upon,  85. 

Neurotic  conditions  and  reli- 
gious excitement,  24. 

Nietzsche,  44,  45,  52. 

Nirvana,  61,  71. 

Nordau,  166. 

Occupation,  227,  231. 


274 


INDEX 


Paget,  68. 

Parrish,  157. 

Paton,  239. 

Periodic  drinking  among  sav- 
ages, 33. 

Personality  sense  in  intoxica- 
tion* 131. 

Philippines,  natives  of,  28. 

Physical  treatment,  170-. 

Physiology,  and  pathology, 
teaching  of,  245 ;  of  alcohol, 
86-;  of  intoxication,  127. 

Physiological,  basis  of  intoxi- 
cation motive,  67;  view, 
limitation  of,  68-. 

Practical  principles,  26 1-; 
problems,  21 9-. 

Prairie  chickens,  excitement 
among,  17. 

Prentiss  and  Morgan,  27,  100. 

Primitive  peoples,  drinking 
among,  22-,  61,  202. 

Prohibition,  230,  262. 

Psycho-analysis,  151. 

Pueblos,  27,  34. 

Pulse  rate,  in  intoxication, 
124. 

Public  school  and  intemper- 
ance, 241-. 


Reaction  time,  89. 

Recreation,  232;  and  intem- 
perance, 248;  and  the  sa- 
loon, 233;  institute  of,  235. 

Reid,  177-,  192. 

Reflex  action,  123;  experi- 
ments upon,  103. 


Religion,  and  intoxication, 
24;  excitement  in,  24. 

Renaissance,  intemperance  in, 
48;  immorality  in,  49. 

Renan,  72. 

Rhythms  in  activity,  59. 

Ribot,  128. 

Romanes,   13. 

Rosanoff,  98. 

Saloon,  220,  222;  evils  of, 
223;  normal  features  of, 
225;  social  aspects  of,  226; 
substitutes  for,  231. 

Sajous,  130. 

Samuelson,  42. 

Saxon  races,  intemperance  in, 
32,  49. 

Schneider,  91. 

Scientific  attitude,  8. 

Seminoles,  32. 

Sex  differences  in  intemper- 
ance, 58. 

Sexual  excitement,  38 ;  and  in- 
toxication, 44;  among  ani- 
mals, 18;  relation  of  to  in- 
toxication, 20. 

Sin  and  alcohol,  164;  and  in- 
temperance, 9. 

Shamanism,  27-. 

Shocking  and  Sheeking,  43. 

Slang  and  intoxication,  72. 

Social,  excitement,  135-;  hy- 
giene, 263;  life  and  intoxi- 
cation, 64,  266. 

Soma  worship,  26. 

Spencer,  27,  36. 

Starke,  87,  128,  166. 


INDEX 


275 


State  of  intoxication,  100. 

Stimulants  and  narcotics, 
84-;  effects  of,  208-. 

Stimulus,  doctrine  of  in  med- 
icine, 80. 

Strenuous  life  and  narcotics, 
55. 

Symonds,  49. 

Synonyms  for  intoxication, 
73-. 

Taylor,  45. 
Temperance,  36,  214. 
Theories,  of  intoxication,  164, 

212-. 

Thomann,  168. 
Tobacco,  use  of  by  American 

Indians,    32;    craving    for, 

149. 
Tuscaroras,  30. 


Urabas,  31. 

Wabanaki,  32. 
War  dance,  38. 
War  physic,  33. 
Waaps,  14. 
Weir-Mitchell,  100. 
Williams,  134. 
Wilson,  134. 
Wit  in  intoxication,  106. 
Woodcock,  excitement  in,  17. 
Worth,  17. 

Writing  and  adding,  effects  of 
alcohol  upon,  96. 

Yakuts,  27. 
Yeast  plant,  86. 

Zend  Avesta,  26. 


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